Lindor slams Phillies again and buries memory of slow start in 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Lindor is off to a smashing start, for a change.

And on Monday night, he picked up right where he left off against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The star shortstop stayed red-hot by homering twice and finishing with four RBIs as the New York Mets held off their NL East rivals 5-4 in the opener of a three-game series.

New York (16-7) extended its division lead to three games over Philadelphia in the first meeting between the teams since last October, when the Mets eliminated the Phillies from the playoffs with a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their Division Series at Citi Field.

Lindor delivered the knockout blow in that one with a sixth-inning grand slam. This time, he launched his second consecutive leadoff homer and then a three-run shot in the seventh that landed around the same spot in right-center as his pivotal drive in the NLDS.

“Pretty similar to what happened last year,” Mets pitcher Tylor Megill said.

It was the 20th multihomer game for Lindor at shortstop. The only players with more are Alex Rodriguez (33) and Ernie Banks (24).

The four-time All-Star has four home runs in the last four games, including a walk-off shot. He's batting .325 with five homers and 13 RBIs since he went 0 for 11 in the first series of the season against the Houston Astros.

“That was nasty,” Lindor said. “They got me. They got me. It’s in the past.”

So, too, are the memories of last year’s lengthy slump to begin the season. Lindor went 1 for 31 in New York's first eight games of 2024 and was hitting .195 through 44 games before moving into the leadoff spot May 18.

He batted .304 with 26 homers and 70 RBIs the rest of the way and finished second behind Shohei Ohtani in NL MVP balloting.

“I think he’s just focusing on the process, not so much results,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I think when you start thinking about, well, I’ve always been a slow starter and the more you think about it — as opposed to (saying), you know what? I’m going to prepare, I’m going to do everything I need to before the game and then I’m going to go out and compete and concentrate on having quality at-bats, concentrate on playing quality defense, as opposed to trying too hard or just having that in the back of your mind."

Lindor sent Sonny Gray’s fourth pitch into the second deck in right field Sunday and finished with three hits and three runs in a 7-4 victory over St. Louis.

He followed that up by driving Aaron Nola's fifth pitch off the facing of the second deck in right Monday. That gave Lindor 23 career leadoff homers, including three this season, and he joined Kaz Matsui (2004) and Curtis Granderson (2017) as the only Mets players to hit one in consecutive games.

“He’s free in a way where it’s like, you know what? I’m just going to be myself. And that’s what he’s doing right now. He’s getting results,” Mendoza said.

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