Francisco Lindor hits 1st walk-off homer for Mets, 250th home run of career

Francisco Lindor knew. He didn't have to watch.

He turned on an inside cutter from Ryan Fernandez leading off the ninth inning and sent the ball soaring into Citi Field's second deck in right field, 401 feet away.

"I hit it with everything I had," he said. "If that one didn’t go, I was going to run out of luck."

Lindor's home run, the 250th of his major league career, lifted the New York Mets over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Friday night and sent smoke rising from the Home Run Apple in center field.

He started to watch the ball head toward the seats, then turned away and decided there was no reason to observe the remainder of its parabolic journey.

"I kept my face in the dugout with the guys," Lindor said. "I don’t even know where the ball landed. I knew it was going to be a home run."

New York overcame deficits of 2-0 in the fifth and 3-2 in the sixth, then took a 4-3 lead on Luis Torrens' RBI double in the eighth. They Mets blew that advantage when Huascar Brazoban allowed Brendan Donovan home run starting the top of the ninth, a drive off the netting of the foul pole in right.

Brazobán struck out Jordan Walker, Thomas Saggese and Pedro Pages in order to bring up the 31-year-old Lindor, a centerpiece of the Mets' revival that saw them reach last year's NL Championship Series.

Lindor took a cutter that bounced and a fastball for a strike, then feasted on the 1-1 pitch for his first walk-off homer with the Mets, the third of his major league career and first since 2018 with Cleveland.

"That’s why he’s an elite player and a special player, because the moment is never too big for him," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "He knows what’s at stake and he lives for those moments and he came through again today. Special