Soto, Lindor Homers Lift Mets Past Marlins

Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor just stacked Miami with early thunder. Lindor, Soto, and Brett Baty all homered off Sandy Alcantara as the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 7-5 on Tuesday night, per Reuters Field Level Media.

The Mets sit at 67-78 and are 20-12 since the trade deadline sell-off. Miami fell to 72-74 and has lost five of its last six, a slide that is crushing wild-card math in September.

First-pitch Lindor, then Soto's three-run shot

Lindor led off the game with his 17th homer of the year on the first pitch, a 405-foot blast to center and his 35th career leadoff homer in the first inning. Jared Young's RBI single made it 2-0 before the first frame ended. In the second, Francisco Alvarez singled, Lindor took a hit-by-pitch, and Soto crushed a three-run shot 417 feet to center for his 24th long ball. Baty added a 426-foot solo shot in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth. New York led 7-0 before Miami found the bats.

Alcantara (13-10) was tagged for seven hits, four walks, and seven runs in 4 1/3 innings. He did reach 200 innings for the third time in his career and the first since elbow surgery in 2023, a bright note in a sixth straight start with a loss attached.

Manaea's perfect five, then Senga's seventh save

Sean Manaea (5-7) was perfect through five innings and needed only four pitches for a 1-2-3 first. The sixth blew up: Jakob Marsee's bloop single started a six-hit inning, and Miami scored four without Manaea recording an out. Nate Lavender calmed the seventh with runners on second and third, and Kodai Senga closed the ninth for his seventh save in seven tries, striking out the last two after consecutive doubles cut it to 7-5.

For Mets fans, Tuesday was the post-deadline version of this roster doing enough. Three homers off an ace, a starter who looked dominant until he did not, and a bullpen that survived the late push. New York goes for a sweep Wednesday. The 20-12 mark since the deadline is the real September story under the .500 record. Miami's wild-card hopes keep shrinking every night the bats go quiet after the fifth. Soto's 24th and Lindor's leadoff stamp set the tone. The Mets cashed it.

Baty's night mattered too. The solo shot and the sac fly are the kind of middle-of-the-order contributions New York needs while it keeps grinding out wins without a playoff clinch on the board. Lavender's zero ERA through 14 innings since his debut last month is another quiet piece of the late-inning plan. Senga slamming the door with two strikeouts is how these 7-5 games stay wins. September baseball in Miami rarely looks pretty. This one had three early homers, a perfect-game tease, a four-run panic, and a save. Mets fans will take that every night the deadline-era group keeps rolling.