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Francisco Lindor. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Like many of his teammates, Francisco Lindor could not discover any sort of consistency in the first half of the season. The 29-year-old struggled to string quality at-bats together, but that is no longer the case. Lindor left his mark on Saturday’s 13-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, helping the New York Mets clinch a series victory.
After back-to-back singles from Lindor and Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso stepped up to the plate in the top of the first. He [Alonso] struck out, but as that was happening, McNeil attempted to steal second base. Lindor, who had a pretty significant lead off third, was able to steal home on an errant throw from Cardinals’ catcher Andrew Knizner.
Two innings later, Lindor legged out a double to right field, and would come around to score on an RBI double from McNeil. Just like that, the Mets were up 2-0. In the top of the fifth, Lindor collected his third hit of the night on a base hit to right field. The shortstop capped his night off with a single down the third base line, giving him his fourth and final hit. Lindor finished the game going 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored, raising his batting average to .252 for the season.
Coming into the night, Lindor was slashing .312/.382/.426 with three home runs, 14 RBIs, and seven stolen bases in the month of August. The Mets’ star is quietly having a 20-20 season, and if the team was having a better season, that would be getting a lot more attention. Regardless, that should not take away from the run Lindor is on at the moment.
“They’ve been doing it all year,” Buck Showalter said. “[Fransisco] Lindy just posts up and gets after it and then Jeff [McNeil] is starting to heat up. Both those guys are really coming on and chasing what they’ve done all their career.”
Lindor finished the 2022 season with 26 home runs, 107 runs batted in, a .246 batting average to go with a .788 OPS. If the season ended today, he numbers would be 22 home runs, 75 RBIs, a .252 batting average with an .800 OPS. Lindor may not drive as many runs in by the time this season is over, but if he keeps this up, it could be one of his best seasons as a professional.
The Mets have won the first three games of this series to pull within six games of the third Wild Card spot in the National League. Carlos Carrasco will take the ball against Cardinals right-hander Dakota Hudson on Sunday afternoon with a potential four-game sweep on the line.