Francisco Lindor on Wednesday hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season full of them, as the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Edwin Diaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five division series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a post-season series at home for the first time in 24 years.
“I want to win it all. And ours will be a team that will forever be remembered,” Lindor said, speaking in the interview room with one of his young daughters on his lap drinking from a Gatorade bottle. “This will be a team that comes every 10 years and eats for free everywhere they go. And I want to do that. I want to do that, but the job is not done.”
Photo: AFP
With tears in his eyes, outfielder Brandon Nimmo embraced Lindor as the Mets poured onto the field in excitement following the final out.
Then, in a raucous locker room, they enjoyed the team’s first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field’s 16-season history. The last time the Mets won a playoff series in their own ballpark was the 2000 NLCS at Shea Stadium.
“This is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about,” Nimmo said in a clubhouse interview shown on the giant videoboard in center. “This has been a long time coming. We wanted it so bad for our fan base.”
Photo: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images
After a third bubbly-clinching bash in 10 days and then some rest, New York are to open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday against the San Diego Padres or the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Let’s keep this thing rolling,” Mets slugger Pete Alonso told reveling fans still in the stands when he popped out of the clubhouse party for an on-field interview with large goggles protecting his eyes. “So proud of this group. We’ve overcome so much.”
New York are chasing their third World Series title and first since 1986.
Photo: AFP
“I want to slay the negative Met fan perceptions and we’re on our way to doing that,” owner Steve Cohen said.
For NL East champions the Phillies, who won 95 games and finished six ahead of the wild-card Mets during the regular season, it was a bitter exit early in the playoffs and a disappointing step backward after they advanced to the 2022 World Series, and then lost games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLCS at home to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After falling short in October again, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise’s third championship.
Photo: AP
“We have a really great group. We got beat in a short series,” manager Rob Thomson said.
Perhaps overanxious at the plate with so much on the table, the Mets left the bases loaded in the first and second against Ranger Suarez and stranded eight runners overall through the first five innings.
They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman, who had warmed up three times before coming in.
With the season on the line, Thomson summoned closer Carlos Estevez to face Lindor, who drove a 2-1 fastball into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-center, giving New York a 4-1 lead and sending the sold-out crowd of 44,103 into a delirious, bouncing, throbbing frenzy.
“I knew it right away,” Estevez said. “I knew I wanted to go a little bit higher on the pitch. Unfortunately, it was more like middle-away instead of up and away, and as soon as he hit it, I knew he hit it really well.”
With his first homer of these playoffs, Lindor joined Shane Victorino and Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome as the only major leaguers with two post-season grand slams. The star shortstop also connected for Cleveland at Yankee Stadium in Game 2 of their 2017 AL Division Series.
Edgardo Alfonzo hit the only other post-season slam in Mets history, during a 1999 Division Series against Arizona. Robin Ventura’s grand-slam single in the NLCS that year does not count.
“Got runners on and we couldn’t come up with a big hit until finally, who else? The MVP. I keep saying you could write a book. You could make a movie, because this is it right here,” Mets rookie manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And then the whole time the inning is unfolding, Lindor is going to do it again. There’s no panic. The way he controls the emotions and he hits that ball. It’s unbelievable.”
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