Lindor helps Mets roll over Braves

Francisco Lindor doubled off the padding atop the outfield wall in center field to drive in two, Edwin Díaz put out a fire for the final two outs and the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 8-5 Saturday in a doubleheader opener.

Following consecutive walks to Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte, Lindor hit a drive against Tyler Matzek that bounced off the orange home run line and back into play just in front of Citi Field’s homerun apple. Umpires originally ruled it a double, and that call was confirmed via replay.

Lindor remained at 19 home runs this season, one shy of his total from all of last season. He had three hits, including an RBI single during a two-run first inning against Jake Odorizzi. His double stretched New York’s edge to 5-0.

Pete Alonso upped his NL-best RBI total to 92 with a single, 10 ahead of St. Louis first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Jeff McNeil, James McCann and Marte contributed RBI singles as the NL East leaders improved to an MLB-best 30-9 following a loss and moved 4 1⁄2 games ahead of the Braves.

Ronald Acuña Jr and Matt Olson hit RBI singles in the seventh for the

Braves, who are 4-6 in the season series.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Mariners 2, Angels 1: Ty France hit a two-run homer in the third inning, George Kirby pitched six solid innings and host Seattle beat Los Angeles in the first game of a doubleheader. France’s 14th homer of the season came with two outs against starter Jaime Barria and erased a one-run lead that came from Mickey Moniak’s second-inning RBI single.

AELSEWHERE

Cubs: Chicago reinstated 11-year veteran infielder Andrelton Simmons from the injured list, then designated the fourtime Gold Glove winner for assignment. Simmons signed $4 million deal with the Cubs in March, but the 32-year-old from Curacao appeared in just 34 games and hit just .173 with seven RBI.

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