With Francisco Lindor's absence felt, Starling Marte lifts Mets to walk-off win

NEW YORK — The void was noticeable for the Mets on Monday night at Citi Field.

The Temptations' soul classic "My Girl" did not precede the Mets' first at-bat. The M-V-P chants never came. Francisco Lindor was stationed on the dugout railing for the first time at home all season as he nursed a balky back.

Without their star shortstop, the Mets needed a boost from someone in the midst of a pennant race. It turned out that Lindor's replacement and the Mets' pitching staff were the ones to provide the most important lift.

After seven innings on Monday night, the emptiness was bearing down on the Mets. But then, Jose Iglesias knocked a game-tying RBI infield single off the glove of Nationals reliever Derek Law in the top of the eighth inning. Sean Manaea delivered another quality start and the bullpen shut the door.

It helped set the stage for the Mets' 11th walk-off win of the season as Starling Marte, who came off the bench for the first time being hit by a pitch on Saturday, ripped a walk-off RBI single to boost them to a 2-1 victory over the Nationals in front of 21,694 fans on Monday night at Citi Field.

"It tells you that we're deep," Carlos Mendoza said. "We talked about it before the game with not having Lindor in the lineup, guys are going to have to continue to step up. This is a perfect example."

The win helped the Mets clinch a winning record as they improved to 82-68. With the victory, they also moved back to one game over the Braves for the final wild card spot in the National League.

"It's a big loss for the team having a player like Lindor go out who is the key piece of this team," Marte said through Mets interpreter Alan Suriel. "It hurts, but at the same time, we have to go out there and we have to kind of do our job because he's been putting the team on his shoulders.

"It's important for us to go out there each and every single day and put in our part and carry the team to the point to where the team wants to be."

Offense recovers from slow start

Iglesias, who has had a penchant for delivering in the team's key moments, delivered a key spark in the eighth inning.

After Tyrone Taylor doubled and moved to third on a groundball out, Iglesias shot a chopper up the middle that went unfielded to make it 1-1. Iglesias' RBI infield hit ended a streak where the Mets were held to one run across 22 innings between Friday and Monday.

"We're definitely competing to clinch, and it's going to come down to one play, one pitch. And that's what playoffs is about," Iglesias said. "It's all going to come down to that one play. We just gotta stick together. We gotta pay attention to details, every single pitch, every single play."

Iglesias' hit — he finished 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games — helped infuse some life into a sluggish offense against the Nationals' Jake Irvin.

Irvin faced the minimum number of batters in six of his seven innings. The Mets could not cash in on their one big opportunity with the bases loaded in the fourth as Mark Vientos sent a dribbler to the left side that was fielded by Irvin and turned on to first for the final out of the frame.

But as the intensity mounted, Iglesias came through first and then Marte put it away.

"We've got some guys with experience and just overall playing winning baseball," Mendoza said. "Just having that understanding when to execute, what to do with the baseball, what the situations calls (for), just playing with the scoreboard. On a night where it was hard for us offensively, we found a way and that's a good sign."

Sean Manaea quality continues, bullpen backs him up

The Mets continued to be led by their starting rotation, with Manaea tossing his sixth quality start in his last seven starts dating back to Aug. 16.

Manaea needed 85 pitches to work through seven innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and one walk while striking out six. It was Manaea's seventh straight outing of at least 6⅔ innings.

"You could definitely feel it, and as far as I'm concerned, we're definitely in a playoff atmosphere," Manaea said. "I think we have to take it like that every day, and those one-run ballgames are huge if you can get out on top."

After two perfect innings, Manaea encountered his first trouble in the third when he allowed back-to-back singles, including a bunt by Jacob Young, but worked around that traffic with three straight outs, including a strikeout of James Wood.

The Nationals pushed across the first run in the fourth inning when Juan Yepez doubled to left-center field and then crossed on an RBI single by Jose Tena. Manaea closed his outing with seven straight outs. He did not allow a hit between the fifth and seventh innings.

From there, Jose Butto struck out the side in the eighth inning, Edwin Diaz worked around a single and a stolen base with three straight outs and Reed Garrett stranded a runner on third following a sacrifice bunt with back-to-back ground balls to Luisangel Acuña at shortstop.

"The last month and a half, it's been unbelievable," Garrett said. "Sean's been a dog. Taking the ball, you can almost on him going seven or eight every start. Butto with three punchouts, Sugar did his thing and kept the game where it was. I think overall as a staff, we're just really trusting ourselves and going out there and getting outs."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: With Francisco Lindor's absence felt, Starling Marte lifts Mets to walk-off win