Lindor Hit to Face Motivates Mets to Pound Nationals, Improve to 2-0

 METS 7 - NATIONALS 3 

The Washington Nationals may have woken up a sleeping giant in the New York Mets. 

With the Mets already leading 4-3 in the fifth inning, Francisco Lindor squared to bunt. Little did he know what was coming next as a pitch by Steve Cishek zipped out of his hands and smacked Lindor in the front of his helmet, knocking him to the ground. 

Mets manager Buck Showalter exploded out of the dugout, screaming at Cishek with the entire Mets bench right behind him. Both benches cleared, but no punches were thrown. 

Showalter indicated after the season opener on Thursday that he was not happy with the Nationals after James McCann and Pete Alonso were both drilled near the head in the Mets 5-1 win. His frustration, and the Mets frustration, boiled over on Friday night. 


 

If anything the incident indicates how close this Mets club is already. These guys have a chip on their shoulder, and will go to battle with one another. That comes from Showalter, and the moment could serve as a great tool for team building. 

As for Lindor, according to reports, he was cleared of a concussion and all tests on him were negative.

After tempers settled down, the Mets used the incident as fuel to put the Nationals away.  In the sixth inning, Matt Canha and Jeff McNeil both reached on singles before Starling Marte drove both of them home on a single to left center to give the Mets a 6-3 lead. 

Later, after a lengthy rain delay, Jeff McNeil drove home Pete Alonso, who led off the ninth inning with a double to put the Mets big 7-3. 

McNeil had a huge night at the plate, collecting three hits including a solo home run that gave the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Marte also had a big day with three RBI for the Amazin's. 

The Lindor incident combined with the rain in the late stages, a power outage in the stadium before first pitch, and the apparent overwhelming anger by everyone on social media over the Apple TV+ coverage, overshadowed Max Scherzer's return to Washington. 

Scherzer wasn't dominant, but was good enough on Friday. He held his old team to just three runs over six innings, while walking one and striking out six. Scherzer is 1-0 in his new threads as a Met. 

The Mets (2-0) will give the ball to Chris Bassit on Saturday night to try to nail down the series victory.