Francisco Lindor’s clutch 3 RBI single leads Mets over Nationals in series opener
WASHINGTON — Brandon Nimmo drove a 94 MPH fastball back to the wall in right-center field. It looked as good as gone until Lane Thomas made a leaping grab at the out-of-town scoreboard. He jumped at an angle to make a difficult catch to end the fourth inning and preserve a slim, 1-0 lead for the Washington Nationals.
It looked as though the Mets were destined for another loss that looked just like so many of the others, with an inefficient starting pitching performance and empty at-bats. But down 2-0 with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth, Francisco Lindor hit a three-run single off Carl Edwards Jr. (1-2) to put the Mets up 3-2.
It was only the third three-run single in franchise history and the first since 1987. It wa also exactly the kind of hit the Mets needed.
“In the middle of the at-bat, I’m trying to concentrate on my barrel and I get a glimpse of my dugout and everyone is on the top step screaming,” Lindor said. “It felt good. I was feeding off my teammates today and hats off to them.”
The took the first game of a four-game set Friday night at Nationals Park. That big inning came after the team had chased left-hander MacKenzie Gore from the game after four scoreless innings.
The Mets (19-20) pushed Gore’s pitch count up into the 50s after the first two innings and he was replaced by right-hander Andres Machado in the fifth.
Starling Marte singled off Machado to lead off the sixth and Mark Canha doubled to put him on third. Marte and Canha have been struggling more than most and those two hits were badly needed for the outfielders and for their team.
Brett Baty pinch hit for Eduardo Escobar and chopped one to Machado, who got Marte out at home. After Francisco Alvarez moved the runners over with a grounder to Machado, the pitcher was replaced by Edwards.
Nimmo walked to keep the inning alive and bring up Lindor. Nimmo scored all the way from first base with an aggressive send by third base coach Joey Cora.
“Joey sending him right there, it takes some character,” Lindor said. “Marte gets thrown out, we’re not having a lot of success scoring and Joey continues to send Nimmo right there. That’s an overall great team win, from players, to coaches – everybody.”
Finally, the Mets were making noise at the plate.
Tylor Megill (4-2) had another so-so start. He allowed only two runs (one earned) on one hit and struck out four, but he also issued four walks. The Mets’ first-inning woes continued when Joey Meneses hit a two-out single to score Luis Garcia. It was the 35th first-inning run allowed by a Mets starter this season, and the Amazins have been outscored 35-9 in the opening frames.
The big righty needed 93 pitches over five innings, once again putting the onus on the bullpen to do the heavy lifting.
“He bent but didn’t break,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He was wanting to go back out there. These guys all know the challenges of getting deeper into games and they’re not taking this lightly. They want to get deeper into games.”
The relief arms rose to the occasion. Right-handers Jeff Brigham and Adam Ottavino each pitched scoreless innings, and David Robertson went 1.2 innings before being removed with two out and two in the ninth for Drew Smith. The Mets were trying to avoid using Smith and had Dominic Leone warming up, but he felt elbow discomfort and they went to Plan B. Smith struck out Lane Thomas to convert the one-out save, the first of his career.
It was only the Mets’ third win in their last 10 tries.
The Mets have failed to take advantage of a soft portion of the schedule and have lost their last five series in a row, but after this win over Washington (16-22), they have a chance to get back on track.
“Winning today doesn’t mean that everything is fixed and that we’re going to go on an absolute tear,” Nimmo said. “But it also doesn’t mean that as well.”
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