The Mets should fight more often — or do whatever it is they did Friday night — if this is the result. Maybe more players will give it a try.
The night after something involving Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil happened in the tunnel connecting the dugout to the clubhouse following a miscommunication in the field, the two helped the Mets equal their season-high win streak of four.
McNeil and Lindor were responsible for all the offensive production Saturday night, while the bullpen continued to excel as the Mets defeated the Diamondbacks, 4-2, in front of 7,908 at Citi Field to improve to 15-13.
McNeil homered, Lindor used his legs to create a run and then drove in McNeil later on. Since the much-publicized but vaguely described incident Friday night, the infielders were a combined 5-for-11 at the plate, with five RBIs and four runs scored.
In the middle of the seventh inning Friday, Lindor and McNeil appeared to be involved in some type of commotion in the tunnel off the dugout. Several teammates subsequently raced down the tunnel, out of the view of television cameras.
After the game, Lindor and McNeil made light of whatever it was that happened, saying they saw a rat or a raccoon in the tunnel and were arguing about it — although it is pretty clear by now whatever went down between the two had nothing to do with a wild animal.
Manager Luis Rojas and acting general manager Zack Scott alluded on Saturday to a disagreement between Lindor and McNeil. Scott even said the two players didn’t handle the incident as he would have or how others decision-makers would’ve preferred, suggesting the story was a concoction of the infielders.
“Wouldn’t be my recommendation, and no one in the organization would make that recommendation to handle it that way, but what’s what they chose to do for whatever reason,” Scott said before Saturday’s game.
Whatever happened, it seems to have had a positive impact on both players.
Friday night, shortly after the tunnel incident, Lindor pulled the Mets even with a two-run shot in the seventh inning, his first Citi Field home run. The momentum of that come-from-behind, 10-inning win carried over for both players.
McNeil got the Mets on the board in the third inning Saturday, drilling a 1-1 Merrill Kelly fastball over the heart of the plate over the wall in right-center field. As he circled the bases for his third homer of the year, the big screen in center field superimposed a racoon on his body.
His middle infield companion got to work next. Lindor walked, and with two outs, stole second and came all the way around to score when Carson Kelly’s wild throw wound up in shallow left-center field. Lindor’s first stolen base as a Met, and the 100th of his career, was a memorable one. In the seventh, Lindor plated McNeil with a bloop single.
The Mets’ bullpen, meanwhile, remained dominant after allowing just one run over 8 ¹/₃ innings Friday. Four different relievers combined to allow two runs over seven innings Saturday.
Making his first start since 2012, and pitching the day after he delivered two shutout innings in his Mets debut, Tommy Hunter tossed two scoreless frames. The only batter to reach against him was Josh Rojas on the first of two catcher’s interference calls against James McCann.
Joey Lucchesi followed Hunter, and delivered 3 ¹/₃ innings of one-run ball to acquit himself well after three shaky starts. Pillar helped, making two acrobatic catches in center field, one a headlong dive and the other a shoestring catch. The Diamondbacks didn’t get their first hit until the sixth, a well-struck Josh Rojas single to lead off the frame, and got on the board on David Peralta’s run-scoring groundout.
Arizona loaded the bases in the seventh on three soft hits against Jeurys Familia, but Christian Walker grounded out to end the threat, with Familia rallying from down 3-0 in the count to retire him on his 37th pitch of the evening. Aaron Loup allowed a run, but stranded two in the eighth, and Trevor May worked the ninth for the save with Edwin Diaz getting the night off.
