Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in an extraordinary season full of them, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2015 with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
Edwin Diaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a post-season series at home for the first time in 24 years.
Immediately to follow in a raucous clubhouse, the Mets’ first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field’s 16-season history.
After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego held a 2-1 lead in their NLDS heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Mr. Smile gives <a href=”https://twitter.com/Mets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Mets</a> fans a reason to smile <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NLDS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NLDS</a> <a href=”https://t.co/XA0IEHQQfP”>pic.twitter.com/XA0IEHQQfP</a>
—@MLB
For the NL East champion Phillies, who won 95 games and finished six ahead of the wild-card Mets during the regular season, it was a bitter exit early in the playoffs and a disappointing step backward after they advanced to the 2022 World Series and then lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLCS at home to Arizona.
After falling short again in October, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise’s third championship.
They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman.
With the season on the line, Phillies manager Rob Thomson then summoned closer Carlos Estevez to face Lindor, who drove a 2-1 fastball clocked at 99 m.p.h. into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-centre, sending the sold-out crowd of 44,103 into a delirious, bouncing, throbbing frenzy.
Tigers blank Guardians, take 2-1 ALDS lead
Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.
The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance in the playoffs since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park.
“We’re human,” Torkelson said. “We know how close we are.”
Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win. Steven Kwan had three of its six hits in Game 3.
“Short sample size, obviously in the playoffs it’s a lot more magnified,” David Fry said after going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, contributing to the team’s eight runners left on base. “I think guys have hit balls hard. Balls aren’t really falling.”
Fans were fired up all day, chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” before the first playoff pitch in Detroit since 2014, and 44,885 were in the stands for the largest crowd in Comerica Park’s 25-year history.
“This is a huge victory for us, just to see the stadium and the whole city come out for the first playoff game in a decade,” Vierling said.
Right-hander Keider Montero retired the side in order in the first, and the previously slumping Greene hit a two-out RBI single in the home half.
Riley Greene puts the <a href=”https://twitter.com/tigers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Tigers</a> on the board first in Game 3! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ALDS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ALDS</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6jYQ551lCM”>pic.twitter.com/6jYQ551lCM</a>
—@MLB
Brant Hurter gave up five hits in 3 1/3 innings. Beau Brieske pitched two innings and Sean Guenther got one out. Vest threw 1 1/3 innings before Tyler Holton handled the ninth.
“Nothing that happened caught us off guard,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We were prepared for all of it.”
It’s the first time Detroit has recorded two shutouts in a postseason series. It’s also the first time since the 1905 World Series that the first three games of a postseason series all were shutouts.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the third after No. 9 hitter Jake Rogers led off with a double, advanced to third on Parker Meadows’ grounder and scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.
Cleveland’s pitchers did enough to keep the AL Central champions in the game, but the lack of offence made it moot.
The Guardians went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
Eli Morgan gave up Torkelson’s RBI double in the sixth. The slugger had been 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.
