Mets sweep Guardians for third straight win since MLB trade deadline; Francisco Lindor hits 3-run homer

After dealing away eight players before Monday's MLB trade deadline, the New York Mets are suddenly unbeatable — at least against the Cleveland Guardians.

Francisco Lindor hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning Thursday to put the Mets ahead 9-5 on their way to a 13-6 win over the Guardians.

Lindor, who was a four-time All-Star in six seasons with Cleveland before being traded to the Mets, fell behind on an 0-2 count versus reliever Craig Yoho before reaching down for an 82-mph changeup and lifting it into the right-field seats.

Yoho had two outs in the inning after Marcus Semien got out on a Jared Young force-out at second base and a sacrifice bunt by A.J. Ewing put runners on second and third. Lindor then turned a one-run lead into a four-run margin with his 10th homer of the season.

The Mets boosted their lead to 10-5 in the eighth, when Cleveland reliever Slade Cecconi surrendered consecutive singles to Luis Robert Jr. and Carson Benge, then advanced them to second and third on a wild pitch. Cecconi got ahead of Francisco Alvarez on a 1-2 count. But he followed with a sweeper high and over the plate that Alvarez blasted off the left-field wall for an RBI double.

Cecconi made matters worse from there, walking Marcus Semien to load the bases on a nine-pitch at-bat. He then walked Young on five pitches — four of which were way out of the strike zone — to bring in another Mets run.

Tim Herrin took over for Cecconi but walked Luis Torrens on four pitches outside for one more run. Herrin followed up by striking out Ewing and Lindor but allowed a single to Bo Bichette that put the Mets ahead 13-5.

Starting his first game for the Guardians after being acquired from the Washington Nationals at the deadline, Foster Griffin (12-4) allowed 5 runs and 7 hits over 4 innings. Yoho and Cecconi combined to give up 7 more runs in relief. Nathaniel Lowe hit his first home run with Cleveland, a three-run blast, after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds.

Lindor and Torrens each drove in three runs and hit a home run for the Mets. Nolan McLean (8-7) picked up the win despite giving up 5 runs and 8 hits in 5 innings. He notched 8 strikeouts.

The Mets' three-game sweep of the Guardians comes after they lost three straight to the Miami Marlins and four of their last six games before the trade deadline. Despite their success in Cleveland, they still have the third-worst record in the National League at 50-66. New York is 20 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 12 games back in the wild-card race.

Three straight losses for the Guardians drops them to 3.5 games out of first place in the AL Central, pending the Chicago White Sox's result with the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers could also gain on Cleveland with wins Thursday, tightening the AL Central and wild-card races.