Giancarlo Stanton hits go-ahead homer, Yankees beat Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of the ALDS

NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season full of them, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Edwin Díaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years.

“I want to win it all. And ours will be a team that will forever be remembered,” Lindor said. “This will be a team that comes every 10 years and eats for free everywhere they go. And I want to do that. I want to do that. But the job is not done.”

With tears in his eyes, outfielder Brandon Nimmo embraced Lindor as the Mets poured onto the field in excitement following the final out.

Then, in a raucous locker room, they enjoyed the team’s first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field’s 16-season history. The last time the Mets won a playoff series in their own ballpark was the 2000 NLCS at Shea Stadium — which came 14 years after the most recent of the franchise’s two World Series titles.

“This is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about,” Nimmo said in a clubhouse interview shown on the giant videoboard in center. “This has been a long time coming. We wanted it so bad for our fan base.”

After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego held a 2-1 lead in their NLDS heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night.

“Let’s keep this thing rolling!” Mets slugger Pete Alonso told reveling fans still in the stands when he popped out of the clubhouse party for an on-field interview with his large goggles protecting his eyes. “So proud of this group. We’ve overcome so much.”

For the NL East champion Phillies, who won 95 games and finished six ahead of the wild-card Mets during the regular season, it was a bitter exit early in the playoffs and a disappointing step backward after they advanced to the 2022 World Series and then lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLCS at home to Arizona.

After falling short in October again, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise’s third championship.

“We have a really great group. We got beat in a short series,” manager Rob Thomson said.

Perhaps overanxious at the plate with so much on the table, the Mets left the bases loaded in the first and second against Ranger Suárez and stranded eight runners overall through the first five innings.

They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman.

With the season on the line, Thomson then summoned closer Carlos Estévez to face Lindor, who drove a 2-1 fastball clocked at 99 mph into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-center, giving New York a 4-1 lead and sending the sold-out crowd of 44,103 into a delirious, bouncing, throbbing frenzy.

“I knew it right away,” Estévez said. “I knew I wanted to go a little bit higher on the pitch. Unfortunately, it was more like middle-away instead of up and away, and as soon as he hit it, I knew he hit it really well.”

With his first homer of these playoffs, Lindor joined Shane Victorino and Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome as the only major leaguers with two postseason grand slams. The star shortstop also connected for Cleveland at Yankee Stadium in Game 2 of a 2017 AL Division Series.

Edgardo Alfonzo hit the only other postseason slam in Mets history, during a 1999 Division Series at Arizona.

“Got runners on and we couldn’t come up with a big hit until finally, who else? The MVP. I keep saying you could write a book. You could make a movie, because this is it right here,” Mets rookie manager Carlos Mendoza said.

“And then the whole time the inning is unfolding, Lindor is going to do it again. There’s no panic. The way he controls the emotions and he hits that ball. It’s unbelievable.”

Fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” as Lindor disappeared into the dugout and again when he took his position on defense in the seventh.

Game 3 on Tuesday was Lindor’s first opportunity to play at Citi Field since Sept. 8, after he missed time down the stretch with a back injury.

But few players, if any, have been as valuable to their team this year as Lindor, who has provided a remarkable string of big hits and crucial contributions as the Mets rallied from a 24-35 start to their first NLCS since losing the 2015 World Series to Kansas City.

His tying homer in the ninth inning Sept. 11 at Toronto broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hit bid and sparked a critical Mets victory, and his go-ahead homer in the ninth on Sept. 30 in Atlanta clinched a playoff berth.

Lindor also fought back from a 1-2 count to draw an eight-pitch walk leading off the ninth against All-Star closer Devin Williams last week in Milwaukee, helping to set up Alonso’s go-ahead homer that saved New York’s season in the Wild Card Series clincher.

“It’s been an uphill fight. It’s been tough. But we’re still not where we want to be,” Lindor said. “This road, it’s been, yeah, it’s been curvy — but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Mets starter Jose Quintana didn’t allow an earned run in five-plus innings of two-hit ball, and David Peterson pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

Díaz walked his first two batters in the ninth, prompting groans in the stands, but retired the next three — two on strikeouts – for the first postseason save of his career.

Shut down at the plate all series besides a late comeback to win Game 2 at home, the Phillies scored their only run on an error by third baseman Mark Vientos in the fourth.

Hoffman took his second loss, the latest flop by a Philadelphia bullpen that failed to deliver throughout the series.

“Some of it’s execution, maybe some of it’s being familiar with our guys,” Thomson said. “I don’t know. It should work both ways, though.”

UP NEXT

New York went 5-2 against the Padres this season and 2-4 versus the Dodgers.

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AP MLB:

MONTREAL – Sam Montembeault made 48 saves, Cole Caufield scored the game-winning goal and the Montreal Canadiens opened the NHL season with a 1-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday at the Bell Centre.

Caufield scored a power-play goal at 7:48 of the first period, finishing off a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe play with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach. The Canadiens’ power play went 1-for-5 on the night after going 0-for-30 during the pre-season.

Toronto pulled goalie Anthony Stolarz with two minutes remaining, but to no avail as Caufield’s goal hung on as the winner. Stolarz stopped 26 shots for the Maple Leafs after presumed starter Joseph Woll was surprisingly kept out of the lineup with “lower-body tightness,” head coach Craig Berube said.

Takeaways

Canadiens: Montembeault’s 48 saves was an NHL record for a season-opening shutout. He became the seventh Canadiens goaltender to post a shutout in a season-opening game. Jacques Plante was the only other to do it against the Maple Leafs (Oct. 6, 1960, Oct. 6, 1955).

Maple Leafs: Toronto had trouble staying out of the penalty box with five minor penalties in the first 40 minutes. The Maple Leafs also went 0-for-4 on the power play and hit three posts in the second period.

Key moment

Midway through the second period, Montembeault flashed the leather with a glove save on a one-timer from the slot by Maple Leafs sniper Auston Matthews, who scored an NHL-leading 69 goals last season. Montembeault’s 48th save of the night was on another Matthews chance from the slot with the clock winding down.

Key stat

Caufield scored a goal in the Canadiens’ season-opener against the Maple Leafs for the third straight season. The 23-year-old American also recorded his 150th career point in his 206th game, becoming the fastest Canadien to reach that mark since Saku Koivu in 1997-98.

Up next

Both teams play their second game in as many days Thursday. The Canadiens travel to Boston to take on the Bruins. The Maple Leafs visit former Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe and the New Jersey Devils.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan Party candidate has repeated his apology for saying a racial slur a year ago, this time in person and with party leader Scott Moe.

“Very dumb mistake. One word and it can change your life,” David Buckingham told reporters Wednesday at an unrelated party announcement in Saskatoon.

“To the people involved, I offer my apology again. I wish I could bring it back. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

Moe said the Saskatchewan Party followed its policies after the slur was made, as Buckingham apologized and took sensitivity training.

“We very much strive to be a diverse and inclusive party, very much with the policies that we have enacted with the honour of forming government over the last decade and a half,” Moe said.

NDP Leader Carla Beck, asked by reporters about the apology, said Moe, in his role as leader, needs to be accountable for what goes on in his caucus.

“These are really shocking things for anyone to be saying,” Beck told reporters in Saskatoon.

“It’s not something that most people would stand for. We’re in the middle of an election. People in (Saskatoon) Westview will have the opportunity to register what they think about the actions and the apology.”

Buckingham is seeking a third term in the legislature in the Oct. 28 election.

He was first elected in the constituency of Saskatoon Westview in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. He has also served as the Saskatchewan Party government caucus chair.

Buckingham apologized in a public statement Tuesday, shortly after former caucus colleague Randy Weekes told reporters about the slur.

Weekes said a caucus staff member told him she overheard Buckingham use a racial slur referencing a Black person.

Weekes, who was Speaker during the last legislative sitting, said the woman, who is Black, was traumatized and reported Buckingham to human resources.

She later quit, Weekes said.

Weekes is not running in the upcoming election. He lost the Saskatchewan Party nomination for his constituency of Kindersley-Biggar last year.

He later quit the party after accusing those in the governing caucus of bullying him.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.