Mets finally win a game, but Lindor exits early

TL;DR

The Mets ended their losing streak with a 3-2 victory, but Francisco Lindor exited early due to left calf tightness after scoring a run. The game featured a strong performance from pitcher Clay Holmes.

Key points

Mets ended their losing streak with a 3-2 win
Francisco Lindor exited due to left calf tightness
Clay Holmes had a strong performance on the mound

Mets

Luke Weaver and Francisco Alvarez celebrate a Mets win in home white Mets uniforms

The Mets’ losing streak has finally come to an end, but their 3-2 win came at a cost. Francisco Lindor, who drove in the Mets’ first run of the night and scored their second, left the game after the fourth inning with left calf tightness on the night that Juan Soto returned from his stint on the injured list with a calf injury of his own.

Lindor opened the scoring in the game on a two-out infield single in the bottom of the first that scored Bo Bichette, who was in the leadoff spot tonight and started the inning with a double. And after Victor Caratini hit a sac fly off Clay Holmes to tie the game in the top of the fourth, Lindor smoked a single that tipped off Twins third baseman Royce Lewis’s glove. Francisco Alvarez smoked a double into the right-center field gap, and Lindor scored—barely—from first base, as he looked to be in discomfort as he completed his run around the bases.

That was the end of Lindor’s night, and the Twins tied the game up again when Clay Holmes served up a solo home run to Byron Buxton in the top of the sixth. Holmes had a very good night, though, as he wound up going seven innings, struck out three, walked one, and gave up five hits.

After Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver combined for a scoreless top of the eighth, the Mets eked out a run in the bottom of the inning when Mark Vientos, who had blown through a stop sign at third base earlier in the game to end an inning, hit a bloop single to right field to bring home Brett Baty with the go-ahead run.

That hit helped erase a pair of baserunning mistakes by the Mets, the first of which was made by Vientos himself when he blew threw a stop sign at third base and was thrown out at home by a wide margin to end the bottom of the sixth. The other was made by Soto, who attempted steal a base against lefty reliever Taylor Rogers after hitting a single in the eighth. Instead, he was picked off and thrown out just as easily as Vientos has been earlier.

As for the ninth inning, Weaver remained in the game and struck out the side, working around a two-out infield single to finish the game and give the team a sorely-needed win.

Big Mets winner: Mark Vientos, +25% WPA
Big Mets loser: Luis Robert Jr., -17% WPA
Mets pitchers: +40% WPA
Mets hitters: +10% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos hits an RBI single in the eighth, +29% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Byron Buxton hits a game-tying solo home run in the sixth, -17% WPA

Q&A