June has not been Francisco Lindor’s month, and when he is not going, neither are his New York Mets.
The star shortstop continues to play through a broken pinky toe, which he suffered on June 4 and was described as a pain-tolerance issue more than anything, and was subsequently met by his most severe slump of the season.
In 11 games, from June 8-20, Lindor batted .119 without a home run or an RBI, punctuated by an 0-for-18 skid in the Mets’ previous five games entering Saturday night’s matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies. More than coincidentally enough, during that down stretch, New York had looked lost amidst a season-worst seven-game losing streak — swept by the Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves before dropping the series opener on Friday night in Philadelphia — that cost it first place in the National League East.
So, naturally, when Lindor’s bat woke up, so did the Mets.
Trailing 3-1 in the top of the third, he led off the inning by jumping on a 3-2 Mick Abel fastball that sat in the lower, middle portion of the zone, and snuck it over the elevated wall in center field. It was the first of three consecutive home runs — a run that was completed by Brandon Nimmo’s second of the game, and Juan Soto.
“It felt good to contribute to the team, felt good to have quality at-bats,” Lindor said. “Then to see the other two guys go way further than what I did, that was pretty cool to see.”
In the top of the sixth, he went the other way down the right-field line and hit the very top of the wall in the corner, which was originally called a home run but changed to a double, to score two more and put the Mets on their way to a skid-busting 11-4 win.
It was the 28th consecutive game that the Mets have won when Lindor has homered, just one off the all-time MLB record.
“I wish I would’ve hit home runs in Atlanta,” Lindor joked. “My home run [Saturday night] was a home run. The guys came up and drove in a lot of runs. It’s part of the game. Some days you hit home runs and we win, some days you hit home runs and we don’t. I guess I’m hitting them on the good days.”
“It’s hard to explain,” manager Carlos Mendoza added, while acknowledging the streak. “But he’s a good player, and he seems like every time he goes, we go. It’s been a little bit hard for him as of late, but it’s part of it. We’re talking about one of the greatest players in the game. This goes to show you that this isn’t an easy game. The one thing with him, he’s going to continue to post, he’s going to continue to play the game the right way, and he’s going to be there for his teammates. It was good to see him driving the ball, especially from the left side, dead-center like that. Those are some really good signs for him.”
