Francisco Lindor‘s walkoff home run off Ryan Fernandez gave the New York Mets a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field on Friday night.
Fernandez left a cutter up in the strike zone and Lindor teed off on it for the first walkoff homer of his five seasons with the Mets. With the win, New York maintains its one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East.
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St. Louis tied the game in the top of the ninth with Brendan Donovan hitting a home run against Huascar Brazobán to lead off the inning. However, Brazobán struck out the next three batters to set up Lindor’s walkoff heroics.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead on a Pedro Pagés RBI single in the second inning and Jordan Walker driving in a run in the fourth. But the Mets rallied to tie the score in the fifth on a run-scoring triple from Tyrone Taylor, followed by Juan Soto driving him in with a single.
Both teams traded runs in the sixth with Nolan Arenado driving in a run for St. Louis and Mark Vientos hitting a solo homer for a 3-3 tie. The Mets took a 4-3 lead in the eighth on an RBI double by Luis Torrens after Brandon Nimmo reached base on a fielder’s choice.
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Neither starting pitcher was particularly sharp. David Peterson gave up three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, though he notched nine strikeouts for the Mets. On the St. Louis side, Miles Mikolas allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Brazobán got the win, while Fernandez took the loss.
A defeat could have dropped the Mets into a first-place tie after the Phillies beat the Miami Marlins, 7-2, earlier in the evening. But the win boosted New York to 13-7 and a one-game lead. Philadelphia is just behind the Mets at 12-8.
Kodai Senga (2-1, 1.06 ERA) gets the start on Saturday for the Mets, while the Cardinals counter with Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 3.93 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET.
