SAN DIEGO — The MVP chants have gone coast to coast.
Francisco Lindor supplied most of the offense in the Mets’ 7-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night, hitting a grand slam and solo home run when his team needed it the most. The shortstop rounded the bases as fans behind the visitor’s dugout chanted “MVP.”
The Mets have been carried by their top players at different times this season, but none have carried the team like Lindor, who has firmly cemented himself in the NL MVP conversation.
“We’re witnessing greatness,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “One of the best players in the game, and I think a lot of times, people take for granted how good of a player [he is] and what he’s able to do day in and day out. It’s not easy, and not only offensively, but the way he plays a premium position — shortstop — and the way he plays the position, what he means to the team, to that locker room and to the organization.
“An unbelievable night against another good pitcher.”
Right-hander Michael King, a key piece in the trade that sent Juan Soto to the Yankees in December, hadn’t suffered a loss since July 10, but was on track for one after Pete Alonso’s first-inning RBI double scored Mark Vientos and put the Mets ahead, 1-0.
King regained his command and stranded the bases loaded when Starling Marte looked at strike 3 to end the inning. He retired the Mets in order in the second and third, but loaded the bases again with two out in the fourth.
The baserunners weren’t entirely the fault of King. After a single by Marte, Francisco Alvarez hit a line drive right to Manny Machado at third base, but Machado dropped it. King then hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch to load the bases.
“That was a moment where everybody in the dugout was just highly into the game and into the moment,” Lindor said. “Everybody was just like, ‘Alright, here we go. Let’s go, let’s make something happen.’”
Lindor made something happen on the third pitch, lifting a sweeper 417 feet to right-center field for the seventh grand slam of his career to give the Mets a 5-0 lead. The runs were unearned, giving King (11-7) a final line of five unearned runs and one earned run on three hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out seven.
Batting from the right side against left-hander Yuki Matsui in the seventh, Lindor lined one over the left field fence for No. 27 on the season.
“That means my body aligned perfectly today,” Lindor said. “When I can rotate from one side and then turn around and rotate perfectly on the other side, that means my body is in a good spot.”
That made the score 6-1. The Friars had managed to get a run across in the bottom of the fifth on a bases-loaded ground-ball out.
Lindor’s performance almost overshadowed David Peterson’s stellar outing. The bullpen was depleted after Paul Blackburn was injured in the third inning one night prior, but Peterson spelled the relief corps by pitching into the eighth inning.
The lefty was able to induce weak contact for ground-ball outs. When he wasn’t able to keep the ball on the ground, he relied on the defense and they came through. Jesse Winker made a fantastic sliding catch in left field to save a run and prevent the Padres from tying the game in the second inning and Lindor made some tough plays as well.
Peterson barely used his slider or changeup, two of his best pitches. Instead, he went heavy on the sinker and the curveball.
“I was able to use other stuff,” Peterson said. “I used the curveball a little more than the fastball and the slider. [The changeup] wasn’t exactly where I wanted it tonight, but we threw a couple good ones and it’s something to build on going forward.”
Peterson held the Padres to one earned run on five hits, walked two and struck out two in the win (8-1). He went seven innings in back-to-back outings for the first time in his career.
“He’s now putting himself in a good position where every time he takes the ball, you feel good about your chances,” Mendoza said. “He’s healthy, he’s putting in the work, and we’re seeing a really good pitcher here taking the ball every four or five days.”
Harrison Bader also added an insurance run in the eighth, snapping an 0-for-20 stretch with a home run off of right-hander Logan Gillaspie. It was his first home run since July 12, when he hit two against the Colorado Rockies.
The Mets (68-62) went ahead in the series, 2-1, and have a chance to take the series from San Diego (73-58) Sunday afternoon.
An MVP award would be nice, but Lindor isn’t thinking about any individual awards just yet.
“I’ve got to continue to move forward and continue to climb the mountain,” Lindor said. “We’ve still got a month and probably a few more days… The bigger goal here is to be in the postseason.”