Sports

/

ArcaMax

Francisco Lindor stays hot with 2 homers to help Mets beat Phillies

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on

Published in Baseball

NEW YORK — Juan Soto rounded the bases as the lights flickered and the fans roared. Finally, he had hit a home run in his new home ballpark.

Or so he thought.

Soto’s monstrous three-run shot to the second deck in right field off Aaron Nola was called back after a review. At the last second, the ball had hooked foul.

The Mets were already up 2-0 and went on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, thanks to a three-run homer by Francisco Lindor in the seventh inning — his second of the game, his fifth of the season and his fourth since Friday.

It was the first meeting between the two NL East rivals since the Mets (16-7) eliminated the Phillies (13-10) from the playoffs in five games of the Division Series last fall, and the first meeting between the two with Soto wearing blue and orange. But the Mets rely on the depth of their lineup instead of one hitter.

They used three homers and a 10-strikeout, shutout performance from Tylor Megill to win their fIfth straight. It marked the first time Megill struck out a career-best 10 since September 10, 2021.

The big righty avenged an October playoff loss to Philadelphia with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, with the Phillies managing only one hit. They had chances against him with four walks and one hit batter, but Megill (3-2) deftly navigated the only jam he found himself in.

With the bases loaded and two out in the third, struck out cleanup Kyle Schwarber, getting him to swing and miss on two straight changeups after evening the count at 1-1.

 

He was replaced by right-hander Reed Garrett with one on and one out in the sixth. Garrett was already warm by the time he walked Bryce Harper to lead off the inning. The free passes put a dent in his pitch count, but the Mets were ready. Nick Castellanos popped out to the catcher for the second out, and after Max Kepler singled up the center to put two on, Garrett struck out J.T. Realmuto to end the threat.

Lindor homered off Nola in the bottom of the first. The first at-bat of the game for the home team, it set the tone for the rest of the night. Jesse Winker led off the bottom of the second with his first of the season, also off Nola (0-5), who was charged with four earned runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings.

The Mets stranded two in the sixth, but didn’t miss in the seventh. Nola got the first out but then put the next two on, forcing the Phillies to go to the bullpen for right-hander Jose Ruiz. Tyrone Taylor reached on a force-out, putting runners on the corners.

With two outs and two strikes (1-2), Ruiz threw Lindor a 95 MPH four-seam fastball right over the heart of the plate. Lindor ripped it 412 feet to the center field bleachers.

The Phillies rallied in the ninth, with Max Kranick allowing a run on three straight hits after two scoreless innings. Edwin Diaz then came in and served up a three-run homer to Bryson Stott with one out, but struck out Trea Turner and Bryce Harper for the save (six).

Soto has faced criticism from fans and radio hosts alike over his “slow” start to the season. Undoubtedly, a home run would have endeared himself to just about every fan in Flushing had he homered against the Phillies. But slow is a relative term for Soto. One of the best hitters in the game, Soto will have plenty more chances to doom the NL East teams in the next 15 years.

____


©2025 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus