Lindor Goes Nuclear, Mets Torch Atlanta 14-3

Francisco Lindor went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI as the Mets dismantled the Braves 14-3 on Monday night. New York scored 11 unanswered runs after Atlanta briefly tied the game in the fourth, turning a competitive contest into a rout.

The game looked like it might be a fight early. Ozzie Albies put Atlanta on the board in the first with an infield single that scored Acuña Jr., but Lindor answered immediately with a triple to right that plated Ewing and knotted it at one. Lindor struck again in the third, homering to left center — 367 feet, upheld after an umpire review — to give New York a 3-1 lead. Albies kept Atlanta alive with a 407-foot shot to left center in the fourth that scored Olson and tied the game at three. That was as close as the Braves would get.

The sixth inning is where this game broke open for good. Marcus Semien crushed a 424-foot home run to left center that scored Taylor, pushing New York to 5-3 — and the win probability swung from 58% to 84% on that single swing. Atlanta's bullpen never recovered. In the seventh, Tyrone Taylor launched a 383-foot three-run shot to left that scored Alvarez and Young, making it 8-3, and Bichette followed with a sacrifice fly to push it to nine. The eighth was a full-on pile-on: a walk forced in a run, Ewing added a sacrifice fly, and then Lindor put the exclamation point on the night with a 396-foot two-run homer to left that scored Semien and Torrens and set the final at 14-3.

The story of the night was Lindor's dominance, but this looks like a complete team performance top to bottom. Taylor finished 3-for-5 with a homer, 3 RBI, and 3 runs scored. Semien went 3-for-4 with a homer, 2 RBI, and 3 runs. Ewing and Bichette each went 3-for-5. On the mound, Zac Thornton gave New York 6.1 innings of three-run ball with five strikeouts — serviceable enough to let the offense do its work — and Daniel Duarte followed with two perfect innings and three strikeouts to close it out cleanly. Martin Perez lasted just five innings for Atlanta, allowing eight hits and three earned runs before the bullpen absorbed the damage. The Braves appear to have no answers for this version of the Mets lineup, and on a night like this, it's hard to argue otherwise.