Francisco Lindor’s grand slam lifts Mets to 4-1 win and into NLCS

The tension was starting to build. The Mets had their chances. More chances than most teams have ever had in a situation like this with a playoff series on the line, but for much of the game, they seemed to get tight in the big at-bats.

Then their MVP stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, and just as he has on countless occasions over the last couple of months, Francisco Lindor changed the course of the game and the Mets’ season with just one swing.

The shortstop got a 2-1 fastball from Carlos Estevez and clobbered it 398 feet to center field to put the Mets in front 4-1.

Before that Lindor hit, the Mets repeatedly let the Phillies off the hook.

They loaded the bases with one out in the first inning before Ranger Suarez struck out Jose Iglesias and J.D. Martinez to end the inning. They loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning, but Brandon Nimmo grounded out to first. Then, they put runners on first and second with nobody out in the fifth inning but Suarez struck out Nimmo and then Jeff Hoffman retired both Pete Alonso and Iglesias to get out of the jam.

Suarez finished with 4.1 scoreless innings while allowing five hits and walking four batters. He is one of three pitchers in MLB history to allow nine or more baserunners in fewer than five innings and NOT allow a run in a postseason game, and, according to Sarah Langs, Suárez’s 21 batters faced are tied for the most in a scoreless postseason outing of fewer than five innings.

However, the eight strikeouts were also a postseason career-high for Suarez, and, for much of the game, that was the story for the Mets offense. On the day, the Mets struck out 12 times and were just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position with two of those hits being infield singles with runners on second base. The other was Lindor’s blast.

The Mets were only in position to take the lead on Lindor’s hit because of the effort they got from Jose Quintana.

The 35-year-old pitched five innings, allowing only one unearned run on two hits while walking two and striking out six. He has now gone five or more innings with no earned runs in three straight postseason starts, which is the second-longest streak since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913, trailing only Whitey Ford, who had four straight such starts.

After Quintana allowed a lead-ff double to Bryce Harper to start the sixth, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza turned to Reed Garrett for two big outs and then went to David Peterson, who gave the Mets 2.1 shutout innings to preserve the 4-1 lead for Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning.

In true Mets fashion, the ninth inning wasn’t without its drama.

Diaz walked the first two batters he faced on 10 total pitches, bringing pinch hitter Kody Clemens to the plate as the tying run. Despite falling behind in the count, Diaz battled back to strike out Clemens and then got Brandon Marsh to fly out and Kyle Schwarer to strike out to earn his first save of the postseason and send the Mets to their first NLCS since 2015 when they lost in the World Series to the Kansas City Royals.

While the Mets offense did strike out too much on Wednesday night, they also racked up eight hits to just four for Philadelphia. Lindor finished the day 2-for-5 with four RBI on his Grand Slam. Pete Alonso went 2-for-3 with a walk and Mark Vientos continued his torrid postseason by going 2-for-4 with a walk to improve his slash line to .429/.467/.714.

The Mets will await the winner of the Padres and Phillies, who will play their own Game 4 later tonight with the Padres up 2-1.