Lindor homers, then makes ‘unreal’ tag as Mets stave off Snakes

PHOENIX -- On the heels of getting swept in a doubleheader in St. Louis on Sunday and having gone three straight series without a series win, the Mets arrived at Chase Field in need of a palate cleanser.

Mission accomplished.

Pete Alonso’s home run just missed the restaurant and Francisco Lindor’s homer just missed the pool Monday night, but Lindor’s tag didn’t miss Alek Thomas’ leg on a crucial stolen-base attempt in the ninth inning as the Mets survived a D-backs comeback and held on for a 5-4 win in the series opener.

The Mets were clinging to a one-run lead in the ninth after the D-backs closed in with a three-spot in the eighth. Edwin Díaz came on for the save and got a grounder to first base from Thomas to lead off the inning, but Alonso flipped too high to Díaz at first and the speedy Thomas was on base representing the tying run.

Thomas was off and running two pitches later, though each manager had a different point of view as to how good the speedster’s jump was.

“I don't want to give away any of our secrets,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said, “but we identified that their closer, we could potentially steal some bases off of him. And you know, there's a time and a trigger. … We just got a late jump, a super, super late jump."

Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez fired a dart to Lindor, but to the right of the bag. Lindor dove for the ball, picked it on a short skip and tagged Thomas’ calf in one motion. The D-backs challenged the out call, but replay didn’t have enough to overturn it. The out stood, and Mets fans at Chase Field erupted with cheers to meet the home crowd’s boos with equal force.

“Unreal. Not an easy [play] at all,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “From Alvy not giving up when the runner gets a huge jump, and then Lindor not only picking the baseball but sticking his nose in there and applying the tag, pretty unbelievable.”

Lindor was quick to deflect the credit to Alvarez.

“The ball caught me. I just went over there and stayed down with it, and the ball hit my glove,” Lindor said. “Credit to Alvy, he was the one who made the throw. I just went and got it. It was almost like a diving play.”

Díaz made quick work of the next two hitters, and the Mets had a much-needed win.

The ninth inning sealed the deal, but the Mets wouldn’t have been in that position if not for a pair of impressive homers from two of their longtime leaders.

Pete goes out for burgers
With the Mets held scoreless on one hit into the fourth inning, Alonso followed Juan Soto’s second walk of the game with a majestic drive that seemed destined for the Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers porch on the second deck in left field.

The Statcast-projected 425-foot homer was just short, hitting the facing of the second deck before the restaurant’s front row, but it was more than enough to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

“It was great. It was a big part of the ballgame to put us up one,” said Alonso. “Just an unbelievable team win, great team effort, especially after a tough day yesterday.”

The homer was Alonso’s third in seven days and ninth on the season, tied for fourth in the National League. He has a slash line of .349/.469/.674, and his 2.3 fWAR leads the NL and trails only Aaron Judge in the Majors.

“I’ve been seeing him for years doing something like this,” Lindor said. “But now he’s like a high-average hitter who has a lot of pop, where before he was like a power hitter. He looks fantastic.”

Lindor makes a splash, almost
That 2-1 lead stood until the top of the seventh, when the Mets added on. Alvarez legged out an infield single and lit the fuse for a rally. Two batters later, Tyrone Taylor doubled Alvarez to third, and Lindor followed with a home run to right-center field that bounced on the concrete next to the pool.

“It felt good because I got the job done,” Lindor said. “Against these teams, you got to play 27 outs. Especially out here in the West, where 9:30 here is 12:30 back home, you got to finish the games because they can come back in a hurry.”

The homer was Lindor’s seventh of the season, and the Mets needed every bit of it to survive the D-backs’ late charge.