BOSTON — Red Sox 37-year-old lefty reliever Justin Wilson and Mets superstar Francisco Lindor aren’t strangers.
Their fifth-inning matchup Monday marked the 14th time that they have faced each other and it ended up being a 10-pitch battle.
Wilson replaced starter Hunter Dobbins with runners at the corners and two outs in the fifth inning. He got Lindor, a four-time All-Star, to strike out swinging on an 87.1 mph slider. The Red Sox won 3-1 over the Mets here at Fenway Park.
“ He’s come up in a lot of situations like that,” said bench coach Ramón Vázquez, who filled in for manager Alex Cora.
Cora skipped the game to celebrate his daughter’s graduation from Boston College.
“It’s a tough situation,” Vázquez added. “And he came through. He battled with one of the best in the game and came through for us. So that is huge for us.”
Lindor is now 2-for-10 with two singles, four walks and seven strikeouts against Wilson.
“He was fouling everything off,” Wilson said. “Luckily got the swing-and-miss pitch at the end. Fairly competitive at-bat on both ends … A lot of sliders.”
Wilson fell behind 2-1 and 3-2 in the count. Of the 10 pitches, he threw eight sliders and two fastballs. The final six pitches were all sliders and Lindor fouled off four of them.
Lindor, a switch-hitter, entered Monday batting .301 with a .376 on-base percentage, .517 slugging percentage and .893 OPS in 165 plate appearances as a left-handed hitter against right-handed pitchers. He entered with a .227/.255/.318/.574 line in 47 plate appearances as a right-handed hitter vs. left-handed pitchers.
Dobbins was at just 66 pitches. But Vázquez liked the idea of bringing in the left-handed Wilson to make Lindor hit right-handed.
“And then the lefties coming right after, we thought it was the right situation, the right moment for him to come in,” Vázquez said.
Two of the next three batters in the Mets lineup were left-handed hitters (Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo). And so Wilson stayed in the game for the sixth inning.
He gave up a single to Soto and walked Pete Alonso. But the southpaw then got Nimmo to ground into a 5-6-3 double play.
Greg Weissert replaced Wilson with two outs and retired Mark Vientos on a flyout to right field.
Wilson was the first free agent Boston signed this past offseason. They inked him to a one-year, $2.25 million contract Nov. 14. The deal also includes another $750,000 available in performance bonuses.
He has posted a 2.35 ERA (15 ⅓ innings, four earned runs) in 19 outings.
“Just doing my job, man,” Wilson said. “Pitch when your name’s called. I think that’s how we all feel down there. Wanna pick each other up, go out there and be aggressive in the strike zone and trust our stuff.”
