Francisco Lindor's ninth-inning pinch-hit double lifts Mets to 4-2 win over Rockies

Francisco Lindor, on a fractured pinky toe, came up to the plate as a pinch-hitter to break a ninth-inning tie and lift the Mets to a 4-2 win over the Rockies on Friday night in Colorado.

With the score tied at 2-2, and runners at the corners with two outs, Lindor came up as a pinch-hitter for Tyrone Taylor. Lindor turned on a cutter running in on him and pulled down the right field line to drive in Juan Soto from third and Pete Alonso from first, who made an incredible slide to avoid the tag at home.

The Mets (40-24) have now won all four games against the Rockies (12-51) this season.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Rockies used an opener for the first time this season to help Antonio Senzatela pitch around his first-inning struggles — he’s pitched to a 12.00 ERA in the first inning this season. And it’s seemingly worked thanks to the Mets’ continued futility with runners in scoring position. The Mets left five runners on base in the first three innings, with Alonso (strikeout) and Jeff McNeil (flyout) unable to get a run across in the third inning with runners on first and second and one out.

The biggest missed opportunity came in the sixth when the Mets loaded the bases with no outs on two walks (both by Senzatela before he was replaced) and a hit-by-pitch. However, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio all struck out without scoring a run — with a little help from a wide strikezone.

Alonso would make up for his earlier struggles in the seventh. After back-to-back one-out singles by Starling Marte and Soto, Alonso hit a double in the gap to drive in two runs and put the Mets in front, 2-1. Before that hit, the Mets were 0-for-8 with RISP.

-Mauricio started at shortstop for the first time this season afterLindor was held out of the lineup for a second straight game. The young infielder broke a 0-for-11 hitless streak to begin his season with a booming double off the wall (409 feet) in the eighth with two outs, but he was stranded. According to Statcast, the double would have gone out in 29 ballparks.

–Kodai Senga made his Coors Field debut on Friday and after two clean innings, he pitched into trouble in the third. Mickey Moniak hit a first-pitch sweeper 390 feet over the right-field wall to put the Rockies up 1-0. Senga allowed a double and a walk with one out to set up the Rockies for more runs, but he got Thairo Estrada to ground into a 5-4-3 doubleplay to end the frame.

Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar was placed on the IL earlier this week and called up Ryan Ritter, who started Friday. In his second at-bat, the speedy infielder drove a triple into left-center field to lead off the fifth. After Senga picks up a strikeout, Moniak hit a slow roller that Alonso charged and threw off-balance to home. Francisco Alvarez grabbed it and tagged Ritter, who was running on contact, to preserve the 1-0 deficit.

Senga has stretches of dominance but otherwise got through six innings, throwing a career-high 109 pitches (67 strikes), allowing just one run on five hits, two walks while striking out six batters.

-In relief of Senga, Huascar Brazoban started the seventh. The veteran right-hander gave up a one-out triple that came in on a Moniak single to tie the game at 2-2. Moniak tried to stretch it into a double, but Soto gunned him down. Brazoban has given up a run in four of his last six appearances.

Ryne Stanek was on for the eighth and allowed a leadoff single to Jordan Beck and then Estrada lined a double to right field that Soto bobbled. Beck was heading home, but the Rockies’ third base coach put the stop sign on him. Estrada was almost at third when Beck went back, but no one was covering second, so the Rockies avoided running out of a big inning. After Stanek walked the bases loaded with no outs for Ryan McMahon. McMahon lined it at Baty, but the young third baseman caught it on a line and tagged Beck before he could go back to third for the unassisted double play. Stanek then struck out Brenton Doyle swinging on a slider down in the zone to get out of the inning.

Edwin Diaz sat down the Rockies 1-2-3 in the ninth to pick up his 14th save of the season.

-Soto went 3-for-4 with a walk, his first three-hit game as a Met.

Alonso finished 1-for-3 with two walks. Alonso now has an MLB-high 57 RBI on the season and has 14 RBI in six games this month. The Mets went 2-for-15 with RISP and left 12 men on base, but both hits were the difference in this game. Alonso is hitting .358 with RISP this season while the rest of the team is hitting below .200.

Game MVP: Francisco Lindor

When the Mets needed him, Lindor got it done on nine toes.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets and Rockies continue their three-game set on Saturday night. First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m.

Clay Holmes (6-3, 3.07 ERA) will take the mound while Carson Palmquist (0-4, 8.50 ERA) will be on the bump for Colorado.

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