He tied the game with a homer in the fifth inning, saved it with a backhanded diving catch to end the top of the ninth with the bases loaded and scored the winning run in the 10th.
Francisco Lindor screamed on the field after he made the grab that brought the roaring approval of 28,942 at Citi Field on Tuesday. “I’d much rather do that than hit, to be quite honest, so I loved it,” he said.
After showing emotion on the field, he seemed choked up talking to reporters after the 3-2 win over the first-place Brewers.
“It came out,” he said, referring to his on-field emotional release. “The team has picked me up more times than I’ve picked them up this year. So, to be there for the guys, it meant a lot. I’ve been wanting to do that. They have picked me up more than I have done that this year. I think I got like (nine) errors … just trying to be the best version of myself and help the team out.”
Speaking of emotions, Jefry Yan was pitching when Lindor made the play and the rookie pounded the grass, his chest and his glove before heading to the dugout.
“Vibes are contagious,” Lindor said. “He should continue to jump, he should continue to be himself. At the end of the day, he’s Jefry, he got here for a reason and he continues to be himself. He shouldn’t tame it because people are saying it should be tamed.
“It is what it is. He’s not disrespecting anybody. He’s not trying to offend anybody. I was pumped when he came in and I was pumped when he got the outs.”
The 32-year-old, four-time Gold Glove winner’s defense has slipped this year. His career-high in errors is 14, but that was over 157 games in 2018 with Cleveland. The nine miscues have come in 73 starts at shortstop. FanGraphs has Lindor at negative-3 Outs Above Average (21st percentile) and negative-2 in Fielding Run Value, which would both be career lows.
It has been a down year at the plate, too, but Lindor came through there as well. He went 2-for-4 with a walk to raise his slash line to .239/.327/.429 and he tied the game at 1-1 with his 13th homer, a 400-foot shot to center off of lefty Kyle Harrison.
He was picked off first to end the ninth, which made him the free runner to start the 10th and he came home when third baseman David Hamilton threw wide of the plate on Christopher Morel‘s grounder with the bases loaded. The Mets (60-72) are 13-6 since the trade deadline.
