QUEENS — It was only fitting on a day in which two New York baseball icons were celebrated — Tom Statue with his statue unveiling in front of Citi Field on Jackie Robinson Day — that the Mets came away as winners, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3 on Friday afternoon.
Francisco Lindor’s two round-trippers from both sides of the plate headlined a four-home-run day — including back-to-back bombs with Starling Marte in the eighth inning — that paced a Mets (6-2) offense that eclipsed the five-run mark for the fifth time in just eight games.
It was just the fourth time in Lindor’s career that he homered from both sides of the plate in the same game.
Pete Alonso, who had five RBI on Wednesday against the Philadephia Phillies, added another two on a pair of sacrifice flies to bring his young-season total up to 12.
Chris Bassitt managed to muscle through another strong start in just his second Mets outing, going six innings for a second-consecutive appearance while allowing just one run on two hits with six strikeouts. His season ERA in its infancy is a sterling 0.75 — though he had to work to get there.
After throwing 54 pitches in the first three innings, Bassitt set the Diamondbacks (2-5) down with just seven in the fourth inning; stretching him out enough to get through six on 98 pitches, which was more than enough to qualify for his second win of the season.
Alonso’s first sacrifice fly put the Mets ahead in the first after Jeff McNeil punched an infield single to a vacant, shifted left side of the infield before Starling Marte’s little pop-up fell between three Diamondbacks in short center field. He picked up a second RBI — his seventh in the last nine innings after a five-RBI day against the Phillies Wednesday — in the third to double New York’s lead.
Cano put the Mets up three in the fourth inning with a lead-off, opposite-field home run over the left-field fence. It was his first round-tripper in 19 months after he was suspended for the entire 2021 season for PED violations.
Lindor followed it up with his second big fly of the year, a two-run shot, with one out in the fifth inning. His upper-deck bomb into the right-field seats chased starter Zach Davies from the game and continued a much-improved start compared to last season.
While the star shortstop’s second home run of this season came in just the eighth game of the season, he didn’t record his second-round-tripper last season until May 7 — his 27th game of the 2021 campaign.
Bassitt’s shutout was spoiled in the sixth when Daulton Varsho crushed a 2-0 offering over the Mets’ bullpen, but the New York hurler managed to get through the frame with ease to end his day comfortably in the lead.
The Mets canceled out that run in the seventh when Eduardo Escobar drove home Lindor from second with a two-out double, but it was Marte and Lindor that provided one last indelible moment on Friday.
With two outs and two men on, Marte cracked a laser of a round-tripper that tucked just inside the left-field foul pole. Just three pitches later, Lindor mashed his second of the game — this time from the right side — to send Citi Field into a frenzy.
