CLOSING THE 'DOR
Francisco smacks 3 HRs to lift Mets ovr Yankees in chippy series finale
Francisco Lindor silenced the Yankees in a manner even stronger than attempting to mock their whistling from the dugout.
In his defining game since arriving to the Mets, the star shortstop already had two homers Sunday night when he stepped to the plate against Chad Green in the eighth inning. Then he launched another homer, bringing the Mets the lead and a Subway Series victory.
Lindor’s three homers led a wild 7-6 victory over the Yankees — on a night the benches emptied at Citi Field — giving the Mets two of three wins in the series and moving them to within three games in the race for the NL’s second wild card. The Mets remained five games behind the first-place Braves in the NL East.
“I don’t think Mets fans forget things,” said Lindor, who has been a target of boos this season for underperformance. “But [Sunday] probably helped [the fans] believe in me a little more. When I came out of the dugout and acknowledged them it was special for sure. It was a cool moment in my career, especially being a Subway Series. It was a good day.”
It marked the 15th time in franchise history a Mets player homered three times in a game. Lindor finished with five RBIs in helping the Mets win four of six games against their city rival this season. For only the fourth time since the advent of the Subway Series in 1997 the Mets won a season series against the Yankees.
This 4-hour 6-minute drama wasn’t complete until Edwin Diaz retired Giancarlo Stanton on a pop-up to Lindor with runners on second and third.
“We needed this win big-time,” Diaz said.
The Yankees lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell one game behind in the race for the AL’s second wildcard berth.
All hell broke loose in the seventh, with benches emptying after Stanton hit a violent shot over the left-field fence against Brad Hand to tie it 6-6. As Stanton rounded the bases he chirped at Lindor, who an inning earlier made a whistling gesture toward the Yankees’ dugout after hitting his second homer of the game.
Lindor said he heard whistling the previous night from the Yankees that he believes signaled what pitches were coming from Taijuan Walker.
“I was talking to Gleyber [Torres], as I was coming around the bases, I did do the [whistling] sign because I can’t whistle hard,” Lindor said. “Over the past couple of days, I can’t accuse them of whistling for the signs because I am not 100 percent correct, but I know what I heard and I felt there was something out of the ordinary going on and I heard what I heard. I’m not accusing them. I am not saying they are doing it 100 percent because I don’t know 100 percent, but it definitely felt that way and I took it personally. I wanted to put runs on the board to help my team win.”
On this night order was quickly restored following the emptying of benches, without any punches thrown.
“It was a highenergy game, an intense game and sometimes these things happen,” Joey Gallo said.
Lindor said he isn’t even sure what Stanton said to him that precipitated the benches emptying.
“I don’t think he was trying to fight,” Lindor said. “I think he was trying to say, ‘I can do
it, too, and let’s do it a little more subtle,’ or something like that. That is why I gave him the thumbs-up and I respect that.”
Torres resurrected the Yankees from slumber by blasting a tworun homer in the sixth against Jeurys Familia that sliced the Mets’ lead to 6-5. Familia walked Joey Gallo before Torres crushed a 97 mph sinker over the left-field fence for his seventh homer of the season.
In his season debut, Clarke Schmidt — who was sidelined for five-plus months with an elbow strain — lasted 4 ¹/3 innings for the Yankees and allowed five runs, three of which were unearned, on seven hits and three walks. Schmidt departed after drilling Kevin Pillar in the fifth to load the bases and watched as Andrew Heaney allowed a sacrifice fly to James McCann, extending the Mets’ lead to 5-2, before J.D. Davis was retired.
Lindor was all smiles after cracking a three-run homer in the second that placed the Yankees in a 4-2 hole. The homer was Lindor’s 15th of the season and third in September. Jeff McNeil singled to begin the rally and Pillar reached on Gio Urshela’s fielding error before Lindor hit a knuckle curve from Schmidt over the center-field fence.