Francisco Lindor belted a grand slam in the sixth inning to propel the New York Mets to a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday and into Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series.
The Mets polished off a 3-1 victory over the Phillies in the best-of-five division series, electrifying CitiField with the kind of come-from-behind triumph that has become their signature.
The Mets had left the bases loaded in both the first and second innings as Philadelphia starting pitcher Ranger Suarez kept them scoreless through 4 1/3 gritty innings.
New York had loaded the bases again with no outs in the sixth when the Phillies brought in reliever Carlos Estevez to face Lindor, who punched a 99 mph fastball 398 feet over the wall in center field, scoring Starling Marte, Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez.
Marte was hit by a pitch and Taylor had walked before Alvarez reached first on a fielder’s choice.
It was Lindor’s first home run since he powered the Mets into the post-season with a go-ahead two-run blast against Atlanta in the ninth inning of the Mets’ penultimate game of the regular season.
He joined Edgardo Alfonzo as the only Mets players to hit a post-season grand slam and the Mets booked their first NLCS appearance since 2015.
“This is what I wanted, I came here to play winning baseball and get opportunities of winning a world series,” Lindor told Fox television. “We’ve got to just keep on climbing.”
The Mets will play the winner of the NL division series between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Padres had a chance to finish off Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers later Wednesday when they took a 2-1 series lead into their game in San Diego.
The Phillies had put a run on the board in the fourth when Bryce Harper walked and scored on a fielding error.
They threatened in the ninth, when Mets closing pitcher Edwin Diaz walked two before retiring three straight batters to seal the victory.
– Tigers top Guardians –
Elsewhere Wednesday, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson drove in runs and Detroit blanked Cleveland 3-0 to move within one win of advancing in the playoffs.
The Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American League division series, which continues Thursday in Detroit.
“I like winning. We’ve got a chance tomorrow so let’s go ahead and do it,” Tigers catcher Jake Rogers said.
The Tigers, who missed the playoffs the past nine years, played their first post-season home game since 2014 before a record crowd of 44,885 as they seek their first AL Championship Series since 2013.
The Guardians haven’t reached the ALCS since 2016, when the club lost the World Series to the Chicago Cubs in seven games.
Detroit opened the scoring in the first inning when Parker Meadows singled, advanced on a ground out and scored on Greene’s single up the middle.
Rogers padded the Tigers lead in the third when he belted a double and eventually scored on Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly.
In the sixth, Colt Keith singled, took second on Eli Morgan’s wild pitch and scored for a 3-0 Detroit lead on Torkelson’s double to left field — his first playoff hit after an 0-for-14 start.
The Guardians, who have struggled through 19 consecutive scoreless innings, stranded eight base runners in the first seven innings.
The New York Yankees hosted Kansas City in the other AL division series, which was tied 1-1.
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