By Andrew Tredinnick, NorthJersey.com,

5 hours ago

NEW YORK — Maybe Francisco Lindor was harnessing the power of October chill.

Late last season, Lindor had a penchant for delivering one heroic moment after another as the season drew to a close over the final month. Now, early in the 2025 season, the Mets shortstop is carrying over that late-game panache.

With runners on the corners in a tie game in the ninth inning, Lindor drove a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field on the first pitch from Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, scoring Jose Siri and boosting the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays in front of 37,694 fans in Flushing.

"We have one of the fastest guys on third base, so it made it pretty easy, in terms of, I just got to barrel the baseball," Lindor said. "It wasn't even picking a spot to hit it. It was just get a good pitch and barrel it, and Siri was gonna score. He's pretty electric when he gets on base."

It was the Mets' first walk-off win of the season and Lindor's fourth as a member of the club as they won their third straight game to improve to 5-3.

When Carlos Mendoza made a pitching change in the top of the sixth inning, the Mets infielders came together near the mound and Pete Alonso delivered a message.

"He said, 'We're gonna have great at-bats, and we're going to win this game,'" Lindor said. "... We had good at-bats toward the end of the game and that's something that the hitting coaches have preached to continue to have good at-bats the whole entire game. I think it's part of our culture."

For nearly three hours on Saturday, the Mets' offense looked overmatched against the Blue Jays' Chris Bassitt, who tossed 6⅔ scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. The Mets were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and had left six runners on base through seven innings.

Jesse Winker provided the desperately-needed charge. Mendoza stuck with the left-handed hitting Winker against a Blue Jays southpaw Brendan Little and the designated hitter repaid that faith by blasting a game-tying two-run triple to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning. It helped ignite the Mets' lineup after Lindor had walked and Juan Soto knocked a single up the middle.

"Right before I went into the on-deck circle, (Mendoza) said, 'This is your at-bat,' and it pumps you up," Winker said. "It's awesome playing for him. It's a blessing. Extremely grateful."

Winker's third extra-base hit of the night set the stage for another Mets comeback. By the end of 2024, the Mets had notched 41 come-from-behind victories. The Mets already have three comeback victories in eight games in 2025.

Saturday's win gave them 12 walk-off wins over the last two seasons, tied with the Giants for the second most in the major leagues.

"The beginning was kind of tough. Early in the game, not much going and then late we get some life, we create some traffic," Mendoza said. "The bullpen comes in and keeps us in the game and we finally come through and get the big one and just finish the game."

Winker entered Saturday having not knocked a triple during the regular season since April 21, 2021.

Throughout the game, he gave Blue Jays right fielder George Springer headaches. He knocked a leadoff double in that direction in the bottom of the second inning but was left stranded there after Mark Vientos and Brett Baty struck out in back-to-back at-bats and Siri popped up into foul territory.

In the fourth inning, Winker shot a line drive midway into right field that skipped off the wet grass and passed Spring on the way to the wall. But Vientos struck out again to end the threat.

Finally, in the eighth, with the Mets trailing 2-0, Winker got his opportunity with runners on base. Winker came up after two straight outs and drove a knuckle curve to the wall as Springer tumbled into the fence.

"When Jesse starts doing crazy stuff on the bases, you know he's locked in," Lindor said. "He definitely helped us. He was the one that sparked us today. He had a great game plan coming into the game and he executed it as good as he can."

The Mets were playing from behind after the fifth inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked an RBI single off Jose Butto. The run was charged to Griffin Canning, who only lasted four innings in his second start as a member of the Mets.

Canning still managed to lower his ERA by scattering four hits and three walks to allow one run over four innings. He struck out six but a few lengthy at-bats drove his pitch count up. He was pulled after surrendering back-to-back singles to begin the fifth inning.

"Obviously they drove his pitch count up, especially the bottom of the lineup, a couple of 0-2 foul balls, then a couple of walks, but I thought stuff wise, the slider was really, really good, not only to get ahead but get swings and misses," Mendoza said. "The fastball was effective. I thought it was really good."

The Blue Jays extended their lead in the sixth off Butto with back-to-back doubles by Alan Roden and Bo Bichette.

But the Mets' bullpen was sturdy the rest of the way. Huascar Brazoban tossed 2⅓ scoreless innings with one strikeout and an inning-ending double play in the seventh. Edwin Diaz secured the win with three strikeouts, including two after allowing back-to-back singles.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Francisco Lindor comes through in the clutch yet again, delivers Mets to walk-off win