Francisco Lindor has returned to the New York Mets’ lineup, and the team believes he is in good shape to stay for the rest of the regular season.
The star shortstop went 2 for 4 with a walk and made an error on Friday night during an 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. This was his first game since September 15.
Lindor had only played one inning in the last 10 games because of lower back pain, but he was ready to pinch hit when the Mets lost 5-1 to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
“I felt good enough,” Lindor said afterward. “The pain comes and goes. I’m happy with that.”
While Lindor’s return was a positive sign, Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez left the game with back spasms in the seventh inning. Alvarez injured himself while sliding into third base and had to be replaced by a pinch runner.
He was advancing from second when Tyrone Taylor grounded out.
Alvarez said he felt scared at first since he had never experienced this type of issue before, but he felt more hopeful after the game.
“I feel my body’s doing way better,” Alvarez said. “I feel just a little bit tight. I really think we’ll see tomorrow how it’s going to feel, and let’s see if I can play tomorrow.”
The Mets are in a race with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves for the last two NL wild-card playoff spots. If their postseason outcomes aren’t determined, the Mets and Braves would play a doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta.
New York manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns both expressed hope that Lindor could play on Saturday, Sunday, and in both games of the Monday doubleheader if necessary.
Lindor agreed with their optimism.
“With how everything went tonight, yes,” Lindor said. “We’ll see how I bounce back tomorrow, but how everything went tonight, yeah. Thank God everything went well. My body was responding the way I want it to respond.”
