Mets blow 9-run lead, recover, beat Nats for 6th win in row

WASHINGTON (AP) — Francisco Lindor hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning and the New York Mets, after blowing a nine-run lead, extended their winning streak to six by beating the Washington Nationals 11-9 Saturday to open a split doubleheader on Saturday.

Ahead 9-0 in the fourth, the Mets saw the Nationals force extra innings on Andrew Stevenson's two-out, two-run homer in the seventh that made it 9-all.

Mets reliever Trevor May (7-2) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth. Lindor then led off the ninth with his 12th homer, connecting against closer Kyle Finnegan (4-6) to also score the automatic runner from second.

Heath Hembree pitched the ninth to record his ninth save. Washington lost its seventh in a row.

The Mets have never blown a lead of more than eight runs in a loss, and barely avoided doing it this time.

New York began the day four games behind Atlanta in the NL East and four games back of Cincinnati for the second wild-card spot

The Mets squandered a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth Friday night before recovering to win 6-2 in the 10th.

Michael Conforto’s 11th homer pushed the Mets in front 9-0 in the fourth.

Carter Kieboom hit a one-out double in the seventh ahead of Stevenson’s tying homer off Seth Lugo to tie it.

The Nationals scored three times in the fourth. Alcides Escobar hit a two-run double to highlight a four-run sixth that made it 9-7.

Javier Báez hit his 27th homer as part of a four-run second. Two errors by Escobar at shortstop and a failure to cover first base helped the Mets pad their 6-0 lead by the time the inning was over.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez was ejected in the second. He argued with umpires following a check-swing ruling in favor of Pete Alonso, leading to a walk.

Martinez, who had ankle surgery Thursday...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Mets-blow-9-run-lead-recover-beat-Mets-for-6th-16436146.php