– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — It has taken more than two months inside of his new home, Francisco Lindor has finally started to feel welcome inside of Citi Field. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when he provides over 20,000 houseguests some feel-good entertainment that he put on display on Saturday afternoon to give everyone involved some warm fuzzies.
Lindor smacked a two-run home run in the first inning that proved to be the game-winning hit as the Mets defeated the San Diego Padres 4-1 at Citi Field for their third consecutive win. Marcus Stroman made Lindor’s big hit stand up by throwing 6.1 innings and allowing just one run in another sterling start for one of the game’s best starting rotations.
After spending almost all of the first two months with a batting average below the Mendoza Line, Lindor’s honeymoon period after New York’s blockbuster offseason acquisition was well and truly over, and almost every unsuccessful at-bat at the plate at Citi Field for a number of recent games was met with a smattering of boos. On Saturday, Lindor showed more signs of breaking out of his funk, and in his first at-bat against Padres starter Joe Musgrove, who came into the game with a sterling 2.33 ERA and a no-hitter to his credit, Lindor smoked the first pitch he saw into the front row of the right-centerfield bleachers for his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast to stake the Mets to an early lead.
Lindor, who hit a home run off of Musgrove when the teams played last week in San Diego, is now batting .289 for the month of June as he continues to hit himself out of his rough start. In so doing, he is starting to become a hit with the same fans who had serenaded him with Bronx cheers just days prior.
“It feels great. It is a little bit of a relief,” Lindor said. “The first couple of games when I got booed, I felt like I was playing on the road. Now it feels at home. We win with them. We don’t win without them. They’re a big part to our success, because they put a lot of pressure on other teams.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s contest, with photographs taken by ALOST senior photographer Robert Cole. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are currently three pictures in total.
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