Miracle Mets reach NLCS with a euphoric grand slam from Francisco Lindor

For more than five innings on Wednesday, the sellout crowd at Citi Field waited patiently for a chance to break through, and Francisco Lindor finally provided that moment.

A swing.

Four runs.

Hello, National League Championship Series.

Lindor's powerful bat delivered a sixth-inning grand slam that helped eliminate the Phillies from the Mets' October “to-do” list with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of the NLDS.

The Mets will face either the Padres or Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS starting Sunday. The Padres began the night with a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series against the Dodgers.

After walking two batters in the ninth, Edwin Diaz added the punctuation mark by striking out Kyle Schwarber for the final out. Diaz's teammates rushed out of the dugout and fireworks exploded over the ballpark.

After threatening early – loading the bases twice without scoring – the Mets rallied again in the sixth. JD Martinez hit a single against Jeff Hoffman, Starling Marte was hit by a pitch and Tyrone Taylor walked. After Francisco Alvarez hit a grounder that became a force out at the plate, Phillies manager Rob Thomson inserted reliever Carlos Estevez.

Lindor took a 2-1 lead before firing a 99 mph fastball over the fence in right-center to start the countdown party. Nine outs later, the Mets celebrated their first home win in Citi Field's 16 seasons.

It was just the latest dramatic blow for Lindor, whose ninth-inning home run in Atlanta on Sept. 30 in the first game of a doubleheader helped secure the Mets a postseason berth.

The Phillies were NL East champions, but that title gave them exactly one playoff win. The Mets, who entered the postseason as the No. 6 wild card seed, needed a win on the final day of the regular season to reach the playoffs. They followed with two wins in three games and won the NL Wild Card Series in Milwaukee.

Reed Garrett, David Peterson and Diaz combined in relief for four scoreless innings behind a stellar start from Jose Quintana.

The Phillies managed just one unearned run against Quintana through five innings. The left-hander allowed just two hits and two walks and one hit batter with six strikeouts before leaving at 90 pitches after allowing a leadoff double to Bryce Harper in the sixth pitch.

The Mets loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Ranger Suarez, but were unable to capitalize as Jose Iglesias and Martinez struck out consecutively in uncontested at-bats.

Suarez ran into trouble again in the second when Mark Vientos' two-out single loaded the bases. But the left-hander retired against Brandon Nimmo and still escaped the game scoreless despite throwing 57 pitches in two innings.

Pete Alonso continued the Mets' base-runner parade by drawing a leadoff walk in the third, but after Iglesias struck out, Martinez hit an inning-ending double play.

Quintana made a dent in the fourth, walking Harper and allowing a double to Nick Castellanos. Alec Bohm hit a slow grounder that had Vientos thinking about throwing home but failed. Harper scored the first run of the game, but Quintana avoided further trouble by retiring JT Realmuto and Bryson Stott.

Quintana struck out Schwarber with two outs in the fifth, but recovered by striking out Trea Turner, keeping the Mets' deficit at one run.

The Mets left two more runners stranded in the fifth. Lindor doubled to start the inning and Vientos walked, ending Suarez's effort. Hoffman struck out Nimmo and Alonso before retiring Iglesias, bringing the Mets total to eight to five innings.

Quintana was removed after Harper's double in the sixth. Garrett got two outs in the inning with a batter's walk before Peterson retired Stott for the final out.