Mets' Francisco Lindor has historic night after brutal bout with food poisoning
New York Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor battled through a brutal case of food poisoning to help his team defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Lindor did something that's only been accomplished once in MLB history, 65 years ago by Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays.
The four-time All-Star has been one of the best players in baseball over the past month, as only superstars Fernando Tatis Jr., Jose Ramirez, Luis Robert, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Shohei Ohtani have had a higher fWAR (FanGraphs wins above replacement) than Lindor, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic. Per baseballbible.net, WAR is calculated by "taking the batting runs, baserunning runs, fielding runs, positional adjustment, league adjustment and replacement runs divided by the Runs Per Win."
Looking at more traditional statistics, Lindor has turned things around after a rough start to 2023 and has been particularly productive from a run-producing standpoint, ranking tied for sixth in the National League in RBIs (57) with Christian Walker of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers co-stars Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. Lindor has also been a reliable defender, as he's tied for third in MLB for fielding percentage by a shortstop (.988).
The 29-year-old leads the Mets in runs scored (54), doubles (20), total bases (154) and games played (87) while ranking second in RBIs, home runs (18), stolen bases (11) and walks (35).
While veteran starting pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer have struggled to stay consistent atop the starting rotation, Lindor and slugging first baseman Pete Alonso have done their best to buoy a top-heavy lineup.
With their current five-game winning streak, New York (41-46) has climbed back to five games under .500 and is tied for sixth in the NL wild-card race. They are 6.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies (47-39) for the third and final wild-card spot.
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