David Lennon: Mets' losing streak ends as Juan Soto returns, but now Francisco Lindor has calf injury
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor runs home against the Minnesota Twins during the fourth inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
On the same day Juan Soto returned from the IL due to a right calf strain, Francisco Lindor was removed from that night’s game and is now likely headed to the IL himself with an identical injury -- only the other leg.
No snarky comments necessary. Forget the punchlines. Really, you can’t make this stuff up.
The Mets are providing more darkly comedic material than any of us could possibly have imagined.
This latest one is tough to wrap our brains around. Swapping out the $765 million outfielder for the $341 million shortstop on the same exact Wednesday when the Mets finally snapped their 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Twins? What are the odds?
Just when Lindor was starting to look like the MVP version again, too. Coming off Tuesday’s three-run homer, Lindor had a pair of singles Wednesday along with an RBI, a (costly) run scored and brilliant leaping grab before exiting with the calf injury. He’s scheduled for an MRI Thursday, but the Mets already went down this road with Soto earlier this month, so they were expecting another prolonged absence (Lindor wasn’t available in the postgame clubhouse).
“We know at some point he’s going to get going,” manager Carlos Mendoza said afterward. “And now we’re dealing with something like this. We’ve seen it in the past -- when he gets off to a slow start, then gets going and then we go, right?”
Lindor collected four RBIs in the past two nights, after having only one through his first 22 games. He also was hitting .304 (14-for-46) since April 9, an indication that the glacial start perhaps was beginning to thaw. The Mets patched Lindor’s absence Wednesday by moving Bo Bichette to shortstop -- his longtime position -- but it’s unclear what the plan will be longer-term, with maybe Ronny Mauricio getting some reps there as the likely call-up.
So the Mets finally earn the W they so desperately needed, but lose a five-time All-Star and franchise shortstop in the process. Not exactly the fairy-tale ending to this nightmarish skid, and Lindor’s injury dimmed the celebration to some degree.
“We’re going to see how tomorrow treats us,” said Luke Weaver, who got the four-out save. “He’s obviously going to have a big presence no matter what and continue to lead. But let’s just start with tonight and all rest our heads a little easier.”
The Mets did reel off three straight wins earlier this month after seeing Soto limp off the field April 3 at San Francisco’s Oracle Park. Looking back, that seemed to give Mendoza & Co. a false sense of security, that maybe they had the pieces to survive his IL stint.
Now we know that wasn’t the case, as the Mets proceeded to lose 12 straight without Soto. How they respond to life minus Lindor is anyone’s guess, because it’s not something the Mets have been forced to do recently. He’s played 160 or more games during three of the past four seasons, and 152 in the other. Lindor even hustled back from February hamate bone surgery in time to start Opening Day.
“We can’t sit here and make excuses,” Mendoza said. “It’s all part of it. We lost Soto and we had a hard time. We got to figure it out.”
Most of the Mets’ Wednesday afternoon was focused on Soto cast as returning savior. There was the clubhouse news conference, staged right in the middle against the retractable backdrop, where Soto looked about as thrilled as someone facing a firing squad.
Talk about your mixed emotions. Being activated? Great. For a spiraling team in the midst of a 12-game losing streak threatening to end their season before May? Not the dream scenario.
“It’s a little uncomfortable to see it from the outside,” Soto said.
While Soto was rehabbing the calf, Lindor was busy trying to carry the Mets -- but incapable of duplicating his heroics from past seasons. Still, Lindor kept showing up, night after night, to answer the relentless loop of questions focused on every player’s least favorite subject: why is the team so bad?
For the Mets, there’s no simple explanation. So many things have gone wrong, with nearly the entire $370 million roster underperforming, that Lindor would have needed a powerpoint presentation to outline them all.
Then, when Lindor finally starts to get right, disaster struck Wednesday in the fourth inning. The previous night, Lindor had tripled his RBI production for the season with a three-run homer into the rightfield upper deck, giving the Mets an early 3-0 lead they would ultimately squander en route to another soul-crushing loss. On Wednesday, Lindor again put the Mets ahead quick 1-0, this time with an infield RBI single in the first inning.
Lindor smoked another single that caromed off the glove of third baseman Royce Lewis in the fourth, and when Francisco Alvarez drilled a double to deep center, it seemed enough to get him in from first base. But Lindor barely made the plate, and the first sign of trouble was him slowing up around third -- to the point where he had to almost jog home and was nearly thrown out.
“He wasn’t running the way he normally does,” Mendoza said. “I knew something was up, because it wasn’t like he thought it was an easy play. Then he scores, and you could see his face walking toward the dugout. I knew something wasn’t right.”
As for Soto, he went 1-for-3 and was thrown out trying to steal second after his eighth-inning single. Not exactly a savior-type performance, but he’ll have plenty more chances to come up big with Lindor now likely to be watching from the IL for a while.
Unreal. But for these Mets, just another chapter in a season that’s already been too bizarre to believe.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
