SAN DIEGO -- It’s no longer sufficient to talk about Francisco Lindor’s MVP candidacy in a whisper.

For the better part of four months, Lindor has been the National League’s best player, as he demonstrated in hitting a grand slam while homering from both sides of the plate on Saturday night in the Mets’ 7-1 victory over the Padres. Lindor still might not be the MVP favorite at this moment, but he’s beginning to make an argument too compelling to ignore.

After Manny Machado extended the Mets’ fourth inning with a fielding error, Lindor hit his seventh career grand slam, off right-hander Michael King, to give the Mets a comfortable lead. Three innings later, Lindor extended that lead with a leadoff homer against lefty Yuki Matsui -- that one from the right side of the plate. It was Lindor’s 19th career multihomer game.

David Peterson pitched into the eighth inning to improve to 8-1 in 15 starts.