The magic from two nights earlier reappeared for the Mets on Friday, with plenty of liftoff from the lineup and another wild comeback.
These are the 10th-inning Mets.
Following the script they wrote Wednesday against the Rays, the Mets allowed two runs in the top of the 10th, then scored three in the bottom of the inning to beat the Guardians 10-9 at Citi Field.
Francisco Lindor, facing his former organization for the first time, delivered an RBI single against Emmanuel Clase to start the party near first base.
The victory was the Mets’ third straight and moved them back to .500 at 23-23.
The “Baby Mets” — Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos — all delivered significant hits on a night when the team erased a five-run deficit for its largest comeback victory of the season.
“I got to first base, I opened my arms and the first person is Baty running to me,” Lindor said. “We’re all celebrating together and that’s what it’s all about.”
Drew Smith allowed a two-run homer to Gabriel Arias in the top of the 10th inning to put Cleveland up 9-7, but the Mets weren’t finished. In the bottom of the 10th, Vientos stroked an RBI single to bring in the automatic runner, Baty, from second base.
Eduardo Escobar entered as a pinch-runner for Vientos and stole second before Alvarez singled on an 0-2 slider from Clase to tie the score.
Brandon Nimmo reached on an infield hit and Alvarez advanced to third (he had reached second on the throw home following his single) before Lindor jumped on the first pitch and hit a shot through the middle to start the delirium.
“They are just tired of losing,” manager Buck Showalter said of his team, which went a month without winning a series until they beat the Rays in two of three games this week. “I shouldn’t say ‘losing.’ They are just tired of not having the Mets score more runs than the other team after nine innings.”
Pete Alonso resurrected the Mets with a grand slam in the seventh inning that tied the score at 7-7.
It was the fourth straight game with a homer for Alonso, who got so excited that while running between first and second base he turned backward and placed both hands on his head.
“Earlier in the game I thought I put together some great swings, but they didn’t really end up in anything: no hits,” Alonso said. “For me it’s next pitch, next at-bat, just keep fighting because you never know when that one swing comes and it changes the game.”
In his previous at-bat, Alonso had been thrown out at first base after he was slow to leave the box on a line drive that was dropped by Amed Rosario. Alonso was thrown out easily at first base and apologized to Showalter after the inning. He was granted a “hall pass” from the manager.
“I should have run it out, that is stupid on my part,” Alonso said. “That is bad baseball. It was very stupid of me.”
The Mets fell behind 5-0 by the fifth inning, but a power surge that included homers from Alvarez and Baty started the comeback before Alonso’s third career grand slam erased the remaining deficit.
“I have a friend that says, ‘The team that wins is the team that has fun,’ so hopefully we can continue having a little bit more fun,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
Carlos Carrasco, who had last pitched on April 15, had a rough return from the injured list. The right-hander lasted five innings and allowed five earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks. It marked the third time in four starts this season Carrasco allowed at least five earned runs.
He was smacked immediately, surrendering a three-run homer to Josh Naylor in the first inning. Rosario singled and Jose Ramirez walked before Naylor jumped on a sinker that left his bat at 105.8 mph, easily clearing the fence in right-center. The Mets’ deficit swelled to 4-0 in the second inning on Cam Gallagher’s RBI single. Carrasco worked perfect third and fourth innings, but was dented again in the fifth by Rosario’s RBI single.
Alvarez got a run back in the bottom of the fifth with his second homer in as many games, pulling the Mets within 5-1. In the comeback victory over the Rays on Wednesday, the rookie catcher had blasted a three-run homer in the ninth inning to tie it before Alonso’s walkoff blast in the 10th won it.
Baty led off the sixth with a homer to left field against Cal Quantrill to slice the Guardians’ lead to 5-3. Naylor’s two-run single in the seventh buried the Mets in a 7-3 hole after the Guardians had loaded the bases with nobody out against Dominic Leone.
“The crowd tonight was great,” Lindor said. “It felt like we were playing in the playoffs. That is how it felt late in the game today.”
