It’s hard to call a game in April an instant classic. But this Friday night in front of a packed Citi Field crowd was an instant classic. The Mets and Cardinals battled all night in a ping-pong affair with the Mets emerging on top 5-4 thanks to a walk-off home run by Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the ninth.

The Cardinals singled David Peterson to death to scratch out the game’s first run in the second. With one out, Brendan Donovan singled. Peterson bounced back to get Jordan Walker to strike out, but then Thomas Saggese and Pedro Pagés had back-to-back base hits to draw first blood. Peterson rallied to strike out the side in the third, but the Cardinals added to their lead in the fourth thanks to some questionable infield defense by the Mets. Nolan Arenado led off the inning with an infield hit on which Mark Vientos made a nice diving stop, but then he sailed the throw, which ensured Arenado reached first base safely. Arenado was erased via Brendan Donovan grounding into a force out; Pete Alonso made a nice heads up play to get the lead runner. But a runner would soon be on second base again because Donovan stole second. The throw from Luis Torrens beat Donovan, but Brett Baty failed to corral the throw. Jordan Walker then singled to stretch the Cardinals lead to 2-0.

David Peterson then struck out the next two batters. He went on to strike out nine Cardinals in all and pitched better than his final line, though he fell just short of the quality start. Luckily, the Mets fought back (again and again) to avoid tagging Peterson with another tough luck loss. Brett Baty, who had already walked—a seemingly impossible feat—and stolen a base in the third inning led off the fifth with a double. Tyrone Taylor then tripled to score Baty and put the Mets on the board. After Francisco Lindor flew out for the first out (not deep enough to score Taylor), with the Citi Field faithful cheering him on, Juan Soto came through with a game-tying RBI single.

The Cardinals immediately took a lead again in the top of the sixth. Willson Contreras led off the inning with a double and then David Peterson hung a slider to Nolan Arenado up in the zone, which Arenado ripped for a single. Peterson retired Brendan Donovan on a groundout, which ended his night. Max Kranick then came in the game and held the Cardinals to just the one run by getting Jordan Walker to pop out and striking out Thomas Saggese.

Bottom 6: the see-saw comes back down on the Mets’ side again. Mark Vientos, who is looking much more like Mark Vientos lately, launched a solo homer to left field off Kyle Leahy to tie the game at three runs apiece. After Kranick came back out and put up a goose egg in the top of the seventh, the Mets had a good chance to go ahead in the bottom of the seventh when Jojo Romero issued back-to-back walks to Juan Soto and Pete Alonso. Carlos Mendoza then placed his card on the table, pinch hitting Starling Marte for Jesse Winker. Ollie Marmol countered with the righty Phil Maton, who got Marte to fly out to center field to end the threat.

Ryne Stanek delivered a 1-2-3 eighth inning for the Mets and the Mets edged back out in front in the bottom of the frame. Mark Vientos led off the inning with a single and was pinch run for by Luisangel Acuña, who promptly stole second base. But then Acuña made a base running blunder that almost killed the rally; Brandon Nimmo hit a grounder to third and Acuña tried to advance to third and was tagged out by a diving Nolan Arenado because he over-slid the bag. It was a very close play; Acuña got his hand back in almost exactly as Arenado’s glove brushed his arm, but the call was too close to overturn and the call on the field stood upon replay review. But disaster was averted thanks to an errant throw by Phil Maton on a pickoff attempt at first base, which advanced Nimmo into scoring position. Luis Torrens then came through with a massive RBI double down the left field line to put the Mets back in front.

With the bullpen just about depleted, the Mets had to turn to Huascar Brazobán to protect the one-run lead. One the second pitch Brazobán threw, Brendan Donovan hit a solo homer that clanked off the right field foul pole to tie the game once again. I wasn’t at Citi Field tonight, but with the way the air was instantly sucked out of the ballpark, you can almost imagine the clank was audible—the metaphorical pin dropping. But to Brazobán’s credit, he struck out the next three batters he faced to give the Mets a chance to end things in regulation. And they really needed to do so, given that the bullpen was already stretched to its limits.

Francisco Lindor ensured that extra innings would not be played on this night. Ryan Fernandez left a 1-1 cutter middle in and Lindor was absolutely all over it—a no-doubter into the upper deck in right field, representing his first walk-off home run as a Met. It was also a milestone home run for Lindor: his 250th. He is the first player in baseball history to have that milestone home run occur in walk-off fashion. Lindor calmly admired his work, dispensed of his bat, and rounded the bases to close the book on arguably the most thrilling victory for the Mets so far in this young season.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Francisco Lindor, +21.0% WPA

Big Mets loser: Huascar Brazobán, -21.9% WPA

Mets pitchers: -17.4% WPA

Mets hitters: +67.4% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: You get one guess. That’s right, it’s Francisco Lindor’s walk-off home run in the ninth, +37.2% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Brendan Donovan’s game-tying home run off Huascar Brazobán in the top of the ninth, -34.8% WPA