Francisco Lindor is off to a hot start this season, and he continued his impressive streak Monday night as the New York Mets narrowly defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4. Lindor hit two home runs and drove in four runs, helping the Mets (now 16-7) increase their National League East lead to three games over the Phillies. This marked the first matchup between the two teams since the Mets knocked Philadelphia out of last year’s playoffs with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of the Division Series.
In that decisive game, Lindor hit a crucial sixth-inning grand slam. On Monday, he mirrored that performance with a leadoff home run and later a three-run blast to nearly the same spot in right-center field. It was his 20th career multi-homer game as a shortstop, trailing only Alex Rodriguez (33) and Ernie Banks (24) in MLB history at the position.
Lindor has hit four home runs in the past four games, including a walk-off, and is batting .325 with five home runs and 13 RBIs since his slow start against the Astros, where he went hitless in 11 at-bats. Reflecting on that rough beginning, Lindor acknowledged it was behind him, saying, “It’s in the past.”
His sluggish start last season is also a distant memory. Lindor began 2024 going 1-for-31 in the first eight games and was batting just .195 after 44 games. But after being moved to the leadoff spot on May 18, he hit .304 with 26 homers and 70 RBIs, finishing second in the NL MVP race behind Shohei Ohtani.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza praised Lindor for focusing more on the process than the results, saying the shortstop is now just being himself on the field, without letting past struggles affect him. On Sunday, Lindor had already made noise with a home run in a 7-4 win against St. Louis. On Monday, he crushed Aaron Nola’s fifth pitch into the second deck, marking his 23rd career leadoff home run — three of which have come this season. He joins Kazuo Matsui and Curtis Granderson as the only Mets to hit leadoff homers in consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Nola’s struggles continued, falling to 0-5 on the season. Despite the loss, he remained determined, saying, “Keep competing, keep trying… you can’t control the results, but you can control the walks.”
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