Francisco Lindor likes the pressure of a playoff race.
He surely liked the New York Mets’ response to the pressure Wednesday night.
Lindor and the Mets will look to earn a key series win Thursday afternoon when they host the Oakland Athletics in the rubber game of a three-game interleague set.
Left-hander Jose Quintana (6-8, 4.10 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against right-hander Mitch Spence (7-8, 4.33).
Lindor helped fuel an offensive outburst from the leadoff spot Wednesday night, when the Mets snapped a four-game skid by cruising to a 9-1 victory.
The Mets scored just five runs during their losing streak. But the top five batters in the starting lineup Wednesday — Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Martinez, Jesse Winker and Pete Alonso — combined to go 8-for-19 with seven RBIs. Lindor was 2-for-5 with a solo homer while Alonso finished 4-for-4 with a homer and a double.
The win allowed the Mets to remain two games behind the Atlanta Braves in the race for the final National League wild-card spot. The Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 13-2 late Wednesday night.
New York was in 13th place in the NL with a 22-33 record through May 29 but surged into the playoff race by going 39-21 before the four-game losing streak — the Mets’ longest since they lost five straight from May 20-25.
“We like the pressure — we love the pressure,” Lindor said. “Pressure means we’re doing something that matters, and I like that. (We) thrive under the pressure.
“We know we have a great opportunity to do something special and we’ve got to embrace it.”
The Athletics have embraced their role as a spoiler over the past month. They have the second-best record in the American League at 16-11 since July 10. But Oakland, which is 6-1-1 in its past eight series, will have to try and extend that run without lineup lynchpin Brent Rooker.
The designated hitter, who leads the team with 29 homers, 83 RBIs and a .293 average, was put on the paternity list Wednesday hours after his wife, Allie, gave birth to their second daughter.
With Rooker back in California, the Athletics were limited to one run or fewer Wednesday for the 27th time this season. Daz Cameron delivered a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Miguel Andujar, who led off the inning with a double for Oakland’s lone extra-base hit against Mets starter David Peterson and a trio of relievers.
“Taking the production out of the lineup definitely has impact,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “But these other guys that were in the lineup tonight, they’re capable of putting up runs and they’ve also had good games. Just tonight, we ran up against a pretty good lefty that threw a good game.”
Quintana took the defeat Friday when he allowed five runs over 6 2/3 innings in the Mets’ 6-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. He is 2-0 with a 3.04 ERA in nine career games (eight starts) against the Athletics.
Spence also lost Friday after giving up two runs over 5 2/3 innings as the Athletics fell to the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1. The rookie right-hander has never faced the Mets.
–Field Level Media
