Mandatory Credit: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

The January 2021 trade that brought Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to Queens paid huge dividends for the Mets this past week.

Both former Indians struggled during their first season in a Met uniform. But 2022 has told a far different chapter for the duo, who shined in the season’s second week. As a team, the Mets picked up series wins over National League West clubs the Giants and Diamondbacks, en route to extending their MLB-best record to 12-5. Led by Lindor (11 hits during the week) and Carrasco (the first Mets starting pitcher to reach the eighth inning this season), the Mets continue to roll.

Francisco Lindor

Collecting a base hit in six of the seven games he played last week, Lindor slashed a stellar .355/.364/.516 with 11 hits – 3 of which went for extra bases – during the Mets 5-2 week. Lindor was hot at the plate in the San Francisco series, collecting multiple base knocks in three of the series’ four games. After going 0-for-5 in April 20th’s loss, the shortstop followed up that disappointing evening with a 3-for-5 afternoon on Thursday, including this third home run of the season.

Lindor’s solo shot quickly put the Mets ahead 1-0 in the first inning, a lead they would never relinquish.

Out west in Arizona, Lindor added at least one base hit in each game, with a two-hit performance in the series rubber match on Sunday. He is showing Met fans exactly why the front office paid a premium to acquire him from Cleveland.

“We’re the New York Mets. We’ve got a good team,” said the smiling shortstop after the Mets dominant series against the Giants.

He’s been a direct contributor to the Mets becoming that good team he speaks of.

Honorable Mentions: Pete Alonso (two multi-hit games against Giants), Eduardo Escobar (hits in all four games against Giants, including his first home run of 2022) 

Carlos Carrasco

While Carlos Carrasco may not have the best statistical game of Met pitchers last week, his start – the first for a Met starting pitcher to pitch into the eighth inning – was a huge welcome sign for the Mets after Carrasco struggled mightily in 2021.

In his lone start of the week on April 21 against the Giants, Carrasco tossed 7 and 2/3 innings, allowing just four hits and two runs, while walking no batters and striking out seven. Although Carrasco departed the ballgame to a standing ovation after allowing a long home run to Mike Yastrzemski, he was flawless for much of the day. In fact, the 18 consecutive batters he retired from the third through seventh innings approached a career high for the righty (19 consecutive batters retired, on July 1, 2015 against Tampa Bay).

After allowing three consecutive San Francisco batters to reach base in the second frame, leading to the Giants first run, Carrasco was masterful from there on out. With his four-seam fastball sitting at just a tick below 93 miles per hour, Carrasco relied on a mix of pitches throughout the start, with the fastball (33%), changeup (26%), and slider (25%) getting the most looks.

Carrasco’s fastball froze hitters often, resulting in 10 called strikes. But it was his offspeed offerings of above, as well as the sinker, that led to all nine whiffs for Giant batters against Carrasco.

Through three games started this season, Carrasco has posted a phenomenal 1.47 ERA. He’s beginning to again look like the pitcher that twice finished in the top-15 of American League Cy Young voting while in Cleveland, including a fourth-place finish in 2017.

Honorable Mention: Max Scherzer (seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball against the Giants, striking out ten batters)