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Francisco Lindor continued his torrid pace to begin the season, going a combined 4-for-9 while driving in two runs and stealing a base. Lindor also played great defense, turning in a web gem in the nightcap, and helping the Mets improve to an MLB-best 9-3 on the season with their doubleheader sweep of the Giants.
Lindor had multiple clutch hits in the first game. In the fifth inning, he came to bat with the Mets trailing 4-3, and he drilled a double down the right-field line, bringing in Jeff McNeil with the tying run. The double was Lindor’s third of the season. Lindor also stole third base without a throw a couple of pitches later. After Pete Alonso saved Lindor an error with a great stretch in the top of the 10th, Lindor brought home Brandon Nimmo with the game-winning run on a two-strike single to centerfield.
In the nightcap, Buck Showalter moved Lindor up to the second spot in the order, and he came through again. Lindor lined an opposite-field single in the first inning, and then ripped a double down the first-base line and scored a run in the third. With the Mets preserving a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning, Lindor made a fine diving stop on a hard-hit grounder from Joc Pederson to record the second out of the inning.
“It felt really cold, but it felt good to get the Ws,” Lindor said to reporters after the game.
After the second game of the doubleheader, Lindor’s batting line is up to .310/.442/.619 with three homers, three doubles, three steals, and nine RBIs. As Gary Cohen mentioned on the telecast, Lindor’s batting average never eclipsed .250 in 2021.
“He’s a contributor in a lot of facets of the game. He’s fun to watch. He’s in a good place,” Buck Showalter said in his postgame press conference.
At this point last season, Lindor was hitting just .175/.333/.200 with no homers and just one extra-base hit. Lindor’s second season in Queens is going similarly to the way Carlos Beltrán’s did, where he set a franchise record by hitting 41 homers after having a below-average 2005 season.
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