Lindor goes from out sick to off-the-bench walk-off hero

NEW YORK -- For days, Francisco Lindor had been feeling ill. But the situation worsened enough on Wednesday evening for Lindor to ask out of the game.

“I was going to throw up at shortstop,” Lindor said. “Or do No. 2 at shortstop.”

Feeling miserable, Lindor went home, where his wife, Katia, had laid out a care package for him. Next to his side of the bed, Katia placed water, nausea medication, Tylenol, Pedialyte and an empty bag -- just in case. He barely slept and woke up still sick. But upon arriving at Citi Field and receiving intravenous fluids, Lindor began begging manager Carlos Mendoza to put him in the lineup.

“I knew that was coming,” Mendoza said.

The manager relented, albeit to a point: Lindor would start Thursday’s series finale against the Cubs on the bench, then enter at some point during the game. As Mendoza told him, “Look, I’ll give you the first four or five innings off, because I know you’re going to come up big.”

And so Lindor did. Twice. His pinch-hit, two-run double brought the Mets within striking distance in the sixth inning, before his walk-off, two-run double in the 11th gave them a 7-6 win over the Cubs.

“It’s tremendous,” teammate Starling Marte said through an interpreter. “When you have a player like that who’s dealing with an illness, it’s just super uncomfortable. For him to be able to come through and have two big hits in that game in the moments where we needed it, it was really special.”

Marte -- quite literally -- played an assisting role, joining Ian Happ and Bernard Gilkey to become the third player in the past 50 years to throw multiple runners out at home in extra innings. His first throw was a 96.8 mph rope from right field to cut down Christopher Morel, who was attempting to score on a sacrifice fly in the 10th. His second was a 92.7 mph throw in the 11th to keep the Mets within one run of the lead.

With an automatic runner on first in the bottom of the 11th, the Mets took advantage when reliever Daniel Palencia hit Harrison Bader with a pitch to put the potential go-ahead run on base. Lindor followed with a six-pitch at-bat against Palencia, lacing the final offering into the left-field corner to plate both runners.

That gave Danny Young, the last available pitcher in New York’s bullpen, his first career Major League win. It also added to the growing résumé of Lindor, who matched his season high with four RBIs despite coming off the bench.

“Today, I was a role player,” Lindor said. “That’s what it comes down to. I had to be ready for whenever my name was called.”