Francisco Lindor hits leadoff homer in 9th to lift the Mets past the Cardinals, 5-4

NEW YORK (AP) - Francisco Lindor homered off Ryan Fernandez leading off the ninth inning, and the New York Mets survived a late blown lead to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Friday night.

Brendan Donovan had homered off Huascar Brazobán (1-0) starting the the top of the ninth, tying it at 4 with a drive off the netting of the right field foul pole.

Lindor drove a cutter on the third pitch from Fernandez (0-2) into the right field second deck for his 250th homer and his first walk-off homer with the Mets.

Torrens had tied the score with an RBI double in the eighth, his fifth hit in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

St. Louis batters struck out 15 times.

Juan Soto, in a 3-for-31 slide, capped a two-run fifth with a tying RBI single that drove in Tyrone Taylor, who had tripled in the Mets’ first run.

Nolan Arenado’s RBI single put the Cardinals back ahead 3-2 in the sixth but Vientos tied the score against Kyle Leahy when he homered for the second straight night.

Opposite-field run-scoring singles to right by Pedro Pagés and Jordan Walker had built a 2-0 lead.

Mets starter David Peterson allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas lowered his ERA from 9.00 to 7.64, giving up two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Donovan extended his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest in the major leagues this season.

Brandon Nimmo entered in a 1-for-15 slump, was dropped as low as sixth in the order for first time since April 5, 2021.

Arenado, the Cardinals’ 10-time Gold Glove third baseman, made a diving tag on Luisangel Acuña for the first out of the eighth. Acuña overslid the base on Brandon Nimmo's grounder to him.

Pete Alonso hit his eighth career triple, his first since July 22, 2023, and was stranded in the first.

Cardinals LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 3.93) and Mets RHP Kodai Senga (2-1, 1.06) start Saturday.