Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

It has happened.

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor finally snapped his dreaded 0-for-26 streak at the plate with a single to right field in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

And it’s safe to say that Lindor is now able to breath a sigh of relief after his first base knock since April 27.

“As soon as I hit the ball I was just hoping nobody caught it,” said Lindor. “When the ball went through, I had a smile on my face. It is still a long road, I’m working as hard as I can day in and day out.”

Lindor reached base four times in the game with a single and three walks. He has now reached base safely in 17 of his last 20 contests, despite going hitless over the past week.

The 27-year-old even tried to mimic one of his former teammates at the plate in order to break out of this funk, which worked out yesterday.

“I was trying to get my front foot down as early as I could,” said Lindor. “I went up to the box today trying to hit like Michael Brantley. Today it worked out with Uncle Brant. We’ll see who I got tomorrow.”

When asked if the $341 million contract he signed put any more added pressure on him during his hitless stretch, Lindor says he had the same feeling of pressure during a longer 0-for-stretch when playing for the Cleveland Indians.

“I went 0-for-35 in Cleveland and it was the same amount of pressure,” said Lindor. “I want to help the team win. Throughout this streak I’ve left a lot of people on base.”

Lindor’s struggles boiled over in the Mets’ Game 1 loss of Wednesday’s doubleheader when he made a throwing error in the field, which led to a Nolan Arenado two-run home run, to put the game out of reach.

“It sucks. It’s not fun, man,” said Lindor. “Whenever you are not helping the team and you are winning driven, you go home and wonder how you can do something to help the team win. The tip of the ice berg was the throwing error yesterday and then Arenado hit the home run.”

Lindor sat during the night cap victory, which helped him come in fresh and rejuvenated the following day in the series finale.

As far as building off Thursday’s performance, Lindor tries to do so on an everyday basis, but in his latest contest, there were more results to hang his hat on.

“Everyday is a day I can build off of,” said Lindor. “Today there was a little bit more results. What goes around comes around. I’m thankful and blessed. As long as I’m healthy and the team is winning games I am a happy man.”

Why a Former AL Central Foe Believes a Breakout is Coming

New York Mets relief pitcher Trevor May is also very familiar with the tendencies of his team’s superstar shortstop, as the two faced each other in the AL Central for six seasons before coming to Flushing.

So why does May feel like Lindor is close to busting out at the dish?

“He’s so process oriented,” said May, on his latest episode as a rotating co-host on The Chris Rose Rotation. “I’ve seen him have some slow months. And the scouting report was distinctly different when he was  doing good and when he was struggling a little bit,” said May. “And so, you know, he’s just searching, you can tell he’s trying to really take advantage of those mistakes he sees and hit them harder. The problem is he’s just not he’s just not getting the barrel to it yet.”

“But, I know that just by listening to him, I know that he’s, he’s happy with the progress he’s making on the decisions he’s making,” said May. “It’s just, he is not physically executing right now. So I think he’s close to breaking out. But again, he’s been phenomenal defensively. He’s great leader and he’s focused on winning.”

Instead of showing his frustrations, Lindor has kept that million dollar smile on his face and is focused on uplifting his teammates and winning ball games.

“The fact that he is the same guy everyday does not surprise me,” Chris Rose, regular host of The Chris Rose Rotation told Metsmerized. “That’s usually not the case with people. Sometimes you take it out in the field on defense, or they will mope. That’s not who this guy is.”

“He is missing pitches he would normally crush,” said Rose. “But instead of throwing a helmet or taking it out elsewhere, he is up on the railing cheering on his teammates right after. I understand the booing, Francisco understands the booing, and it’s hard.”

“I hope he starts to get going because when you move from one team to another and they give you a ton of money, it’s tough when you are not performing,” said Rose. “If this was going on in Cleveland, the response would be different because people will say look what he has done for us in the past. Well, he hasn’t done anything in New York yet.”

“I think Lindor wants to hit the fast forward button, and I hope it happens for him,” said Rose.

The Mets can only hope that Lindor can pick it up, and by the end of the season, his nightmare start to his 11-year tenure with the Amazins’ will hopefully be a distant memory, for both his own sake and the team’s sake in 2021 and beyond.