OAKLAND, Calif. — The Mets kept on walking Friday night — unofficially they got enough steps in to reach the Nevada border — and Francisco Lindor was the chief beneficiary.
Lindor twice came to bat with the bases loaded and in those plate appearances, he all but maximized his output.
The Mets shortstop hit a grand slam and later cleared the bases with a double, leading a 17-6 demolition of the Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum.
On a night when the Mets walked 17 times (establishing a franchise record) and had two hit batsmen, Lindor tied a career high with seven RBIs and gave Kodai Senga and the bullpen plenty of cushion early.
Senga ran into pitch count trouble in the fifth and fell one out shy of qualifying for the win.
The right-hander lasted 4 ²/₃ innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and four walks, departing after 96 pitches.
The A’s looked every bit a team that has lost 11 times in 14 games to begin the season.
Mostly, they couldn’t or wouldn’t throw the ball over the plate.
Lindor delivered the knockout punch with his three-run double in the fifth inning, after the Mets, for the second time in the game, had forced in a run and kept the bases loaded without the benefit of a hit.
In this case, Eduardo Escobar, Luis Guillorme and Tomas Nido had all walked and Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch.
The Mets utilized five walks and Lindor’s grand slam to take a 6-0 lead in the second inning.
Daniel Vogelbach walked leading off the inning and, with one out, James Kaprielian threw eight straight balls to Guillorme and Nido, loading the bases.
Nimmo walked to force in a run before Lindor cleared the fence in right-center for his sixth career grand slam and third homer of the season.
Guillorme quietly had a big night for the Mets, reaching base five times, with three walks.
Brent Rooker’s RBI single in the third sliced the Mets’ lead to 6-1.
Ryan Noda, who drew a two-out walk, hustled around the bases to score from first on the bloop to right.
Ramon Laureano followed with a bloop single to a similar spot before Senga struck out Jace Peterson to end the threat.
Senga finally got hit hard in the fourth: Connor Capel smashed a single before Shea Langeliers delivered a two-run homer that sliced the Mets’ lead to 6-3.
Oakland kept the inning going with Tony Kemp’s two-out walk before Ryan Noda struck out, but reached first base on Nido’s passed ball.
The outing was his shakiest of Senga’s three starts to begin his major league career, but he was also pitching for most of the game with a comfortable lead.
The extended time between innings didn’t help: Senga threw pitches in the bullpen to remain warmed up as the Mets batted around in the fifth, the second inning in which they sent at least nine batters to the plate.
For the night, Senga topped out at 98.8 mph with his four-seam fastball and threw his ghost forkball 19 times, with four swings and misses on the pitch.
Stephen Nogosek got smoked in the back by a Peterson line drive with two outs in the sixth and was forced to leave the game after recording only three outs.
Nogosek’s early departure in mop-up duty forced manager Buck Showalter to stretch his bullpen further than he would have liked in such a lopsided game.
Dennis Santana entered and pitched 2 ¹/₃ innings before John Curtiss worked the ninth.
In the top of the ninth inning, former Mets reliever Jeurys Familia walked four batters and was removed with the A’s trailing 14-6.
Catcher Carlos Perez entered and allowed a double to Escobar that brought in two additional runs.
Guillorme delivered an RBI single in the inning.
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