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.

Francisco Lindor hits leadoff homer in 9th to lift the Mets past the Cardinals, 5-4 | iNFOnews.ca — Fans watch as St. Louis Cardinals’ Victor Scott II (11) leaps for a ball hit by New York Mets’ Mark Vientos for a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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.

Key moment

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.

Key stat