For nearly eight innings Saturday, the Mets squandered scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity. They started 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They stranded a runner at third base in three of the first seven innings. They made 23 outs before they scored their first runs. But once agai n, the Mets would not be denied. Francisco Lindor’s walk-off sacrifice fly capped an improbable 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on a chilly, rainy night at Citi Field. The speedy Jose Siri scored from third base after Lindor lifted a first-pitch slider from All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman to center field in the bottom of the ninth. “Pete Alonso said in the sixth or seventh inning … [that] we’re gonna have great at-bats and we’re gonna win this game,” Lindor said. “[Brett] Baty, [Mark] Vientos and me, we all looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna win this game.’” The late-inning heroics spoiled a dominant start by Toronto’s Chris Bassitt, who hurled 6.2 shutout innings and recorded nine strikeouts. Bassitt, who pitched for the Mets in 2022, deployed a devastating eight-pitch mix to keep the Mets off balance, eliciting 11 swings and misses over his 92 pitches. Bassitt out-pitched Mets starter Griffin Canning, who allowed one run over four-plus innings. “Bassitt was really good,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He had our number today. And we found a way.” The Mets finally broke through in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays bullpen. Trailing 2-0, the Mets’ first two hitters reached base against left-handed reliever Brendon Little when Lindor walked and Juan Soto singled. Little then struck Alonso out, and Nimmo lined out to center field. Mendoza considered bringing in the righty-swinging Tyrone Taylor to pinch hit, but he expected Toronto to counter with a right-handed reliever. So Mendoza stuck with lefty-swinging Jesse Winker, who had already doubled and tripled. “Winker’s coming off two really good at-bats against a righty, but watching their lefties with Soto’s at-bat, Nimmo smoked a ball, to me it was like, ‘OK, the lefties are seeing this guy very well,’” Mendoza said. Winker rewarded his manager’s faith by lining another triple off of the right-field wall, tying the score, 2-2. The designated hitter entered Saturday with only three regular-season triples in his nine-year career — and none since 2021 — though he tripled twice in the playoffs last year. “Right before I went to the on-deck circle, [Mendoza] said, ‘This is your at-bat.’ It pumps you up,” Winker said. With the score still tied in the bottom of the ninth, reliever Nick Sandlin walked Siri with one out, then threw a wild pitch that allowed Siri to go to second. Luis Torrens, who had been scratched from the starting lineup with a right forearm contusion but later entered as a defensive replacement, then singled, putting runners on the corners with one out for Lindor. “We had one of the fastest guys on third base, so it made it pretty easy for me in the sense that I just needed to barrel the baseball,” Lindor said. The sacrifice fly marked the seventh walk-off RBI in the 11-year career of Lindor, who entered Saturday hitting just .136 this season before going 1-for-3 with the walk and the game-winning RBI. “He’s an elite player, and he knows it,” Mendoza said. “The moment is never too big for him.” It was the third come-from-behind win of the season for the Mets, who had 41 such victories last year. The Mets led the majors with eight ninth-inning comebacks in 2024. “We saw it a lot last year,” Mendoza said. “We got a lot of these guys back. Every year is different. It’s still early, but those are some good signs.” The Mets (5-3) will attempt to finish off a three-game series sweep on Sunday afternoon, with David Peterson (1-0, 3.00 ERA) scheduled to pitch for them and Bowden Francis (1-0, 3.00 ERA) set to start for Toronto. ...read more read less