QUEENS, NY — Francisco Lindor continued to bolster his MVP credentials on Tuesday night at Citi Field, hitting a home run and a double while driving in three runs to spark the Mets to a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox for a sixth-straight win.
Nursing a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Mets scored four times off reliever Chris Martin, including an RBI double from Lindor and a two-run home run by Pete Alonso to cap off the big inning.
The result ensures the Mets keep pace with the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Atlanta entered Tuesday night with a half-game lead over New York and were leading the Colorado Rockies.
Now at 75-64, the Mets are a season-high 11 games over .500 with 23 games left to play.
Lindor’s heroics supported starting pitcher David Peterson, who on his 29th birthday, set a new career high with 11 strikeouts while allowing just one run on six hits and one walk over six innings to continue his breakout season. With five straight quality starts, the southpaw owns a 2.75 ERA this season in 17 outings.
Lindor put the Mets in front with their first hit of the game in the third inning, a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning for his 30th round-tripper of the season. It extended his current on-base streak to 32 straight games and his hitting streak to 14.
After hitting 31 home runs last year, he is just the 10th player in Mets history with multiple 30-home-run seasons.
His homer was the only Mets’ hit through six innings as Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford allowed just three base runners (two walks) in his six innings of work that also featured eight strikeouts.
Peterson picked up his eighth strikeout in the top of the fourth — pumping another fastball past Romy Gonzalez — tying a season-high and setting a Mets franchise record for most strikeouts on a pitcher’s birthday (that innocuous stat courtesy of the Mets).
He notched his season-high ninth punchout in the fifth when he got Ceddanne Rafaela whiffing at a four-seamer, but he also yielded his first run of the night — a Nick Sogard blooper falling in front of Brando Nimmo to score Masataka Yoshida from second with two outs in the frame to halve Boston’s deficit.
After allowing a single to Rob Refsnyder, he got out of the jam by powering another high fastball past Jarren Duran to tie a career-high with 10 strikeouts on the night.
Peterson had to work through a jam in the sixth despite nabbing a new career high with a punchout of Rafael Devers. He put runners at the corners with two outs but got Danny Jansen to fly out to right to keep the Mets’ slim lead intact.
The Mets tacked on some insurance when Vientos led the bottom of the seventh off with his 22nd home run of the season, but the New York bullpen nearly choked Peterson’s gem away in the eighth when Jose Butto walked the first two men he faced before Reed Garrett coaxed a weak grounder from Devers that loaded the bases. Pinch-hitter Emmanuel Valdez drove home a run on a sacrifice fly but Garrett coaxed an inning-ending double play fro Masataka Yoshida to keep the hosts ahead.
Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez led off the bottom of the eighth with singles before Lindor lined a double the other way on the first pitch he saw off Martin to get the run right back. Brandon Nimmo then got Alvarez home with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.
Alonso put the game beyond all doubt with a two-run bomb to center field, his 31st of the season to re-take the team lead in round-trippers from Lindor.
