NEW YORK: Mets running back Francisco Lindor whistled the Yankees and sent the ball whistling over the wall, three times.
Amid a miserable first season with the Mets, Lindor kept his new team’s postseason opportunities alive and left his city rival out of the playoff position.
He almost provoked a fight when he mocked the visiting Yankees with a whistle after his second home run, and then broke a tie in the eighth inning with his third home run in a dramatic 7-6 Mets victory on Sunday. at night on a heated Subway Series. final.
“Wow, what an amazing weekend,” the four-time All-Star said. “I thought it was a playoff, just hot.”
Lindor hit a three-run batting left in the second with a hanging ball from rookie Clarke Schmidt, hit a solo homer on the sixth right-footed shot on a Wandy Peralta substitution and broke a 7-7 draw from the left handed. side against Chad Green.
It was Lindor’s first three-game career streak, reaching .227 in his first season with the Mets. He became the first player with a three-day game in the history of 139 games in the Subway Series, according to an ESPN Stats & Information investigation.
As he rounded the bases of his second homer, Lindor put a hand to his mouth, turned toward the Yankees, and made movements as if whistling. That referred to the Mets ’belief the Yankees had whistled on Saturday in an attempt to tilt their batters toward Taijuan Walker pitches.
“I can’t accuse them of whistling for signs because I’m not 100%,” Lindor said. “But I know what I felt and I felt something out of the ordinary happen.”
The shout increased when Stanton tied the score with a two-run homer to seventh-seeded Brad Hand. Stanton walked slowly after making the second lap at the trot, turned his back on the third and started screaming with the short. Both Lindor and second baseman Javier Baez signaled Stanton to get there, and by the time Stanton reached the plate, the players in both cellars had spilled onto the field.
Bullpens also emptied and Brett Gardner gave the Mets a double thumbs down. By the time the next pitch was released, the delay had lasted nearly four minutes.
Hand could not be replaced by a right-hander because Stanton was his third hitter, a Major League Baseball minimum added to his rules in 2020. Mets manager Luis Rojas chose not to walk for Stanton with first base open and Joey Gallo, able to come out left on the deck.
A crowd of 33,305 people who seemed evenly divided booed Lindor before her third homer, then cheered again and caused Lindor to draw a curtain.
Seth Lugo (4-2) threw the eighth and Edwin Diaz got his 29th save on 35 occasions. He allowed DJ LeMahieu’s single to ninth and toured Anthony Rizzo on four releases.
Gardner, who came in when Aaron Judge came out on the third inning due to dizziness, crashed. James McCann’s pass ball advanced the runners, but Stanton hit a mouthful to Lindor that ended a 4-hour, 6-minute game.
Lindor said his performance has not yet made him feel like a New Yorker. “I don’t have the accent yet,” he said.
The Yankees lost for the 12th time in 15 games after a 13-win streak and fell one game behind Boston and Toronto in the wildcard chase of the AL.
The Mets won 4-2 against the Yankees this year and closed out in three games for the second NL wildcard, but they have three teams ahead.
Stanton’s RBI double and Gallo’s sacrifice earned a 2-0 lead over first striker Carlos Carrasco. It was Gallo’s second sacrifice in 2,237 plate appearances. Carrasco allowed two runs and three hits in five innings with four runs.
Gleyber Torres tied the Yankees 5-4 with a two-run homer against Jeurys Familia, Torres ’seventh man and first since July 21st.
Schmidt gave up five runs (two wins), seven hits and three walks in 4⅓ innings. He was making his first big appearance in the league since last year; Schmidt’s season debut in the minors was delayed until July 26 due to a tense elbow. He walked in his first appearance on the plaque since high school in 2014.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.