For five-plus innings Wednesday the sellout crowd at Citi Field waited patiently for the chance to erupt, and finally Francisco Lindor’s mighty bat delivered a sixth-inning grand slam.
The New York Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1, and head to the National League Championship Series.
Lindor went ahead 2-1 in the count before launching a 99-mph fastball over the fence in right-center to start the countdown party. Nine outs later, the Mets celebrated the first home clincher in Citi Field’s 16 seasons of existence.
It was just the latest dramatic blast for Lindor, whose ninth-inning homer in Atlanta on Sept. 30 in the first game of a doubleheader helped clinch a postseason berth for the Mets.
The Phillies were the NL East champions, but that designation got them exactly one playoff victory. The Mets, who entered the postseason as a wild card with the No. 6 seed, needed a victory on the final day of the regular season just to reach the playoffs. They followed with two victories in three games to win the NL Wild Card Series in Milwaukee.
Reed Garrett, David Peterson and Diaz combined on four scoreless innings in relief behind a superb start from Jose Quintana.
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