Francisco Lindor walked into Yankee Stadium on September 12, 2026, and left with a piece of history. A leadoff home run in the first inning and a grand slam in the eighth powered the Mets to a 12-2 blowout over the Yankees — and pushed Lindor into a four-way tie for fourth place on one of baseball’s most specific and meaningful leaderboards.
The Leaderboard That Trips Everyone Up
This isn’t a career home run list. It’s a positional stat: it counts only home runs hit in games where the player was actually lined up at shortstop. That’s why Cal Ripken Jr. shows up with 345 instead of his full career total of 431. It’s why Alex Rodriguez — who hit 696 home runs total, one of the biggest numbers in MLB history — appears here with 344. And it’s why Lindor’s 8 home runs as a designated hitter don’t count toward his 291. That’s the rule: DH at-bats don’t belong on this list.
MLB stat researcher Sarah Langs captured the updated leaderboard on the day of the game:
- Cal Ripken Jr.: 345
- Alex Rodriguez: 344
- Francisco Lindor: 291 (8 additional as DH)
- Miguel Tejada: 291
How the Night Unfolded
In front of 46,864 fans in the Bronx, Lindor led off the game by taking a 1-1 changeup from Gerrit Cole over the fence — his fifth leadoff homer of the 2026 season and the 36th of his career. It also happened to be the five-year anniversary of a game in which he went yard three times against the Yankees at Citi Field. Same opponent, different stadium, same result.
The knockout punch came in the eighth: a grand slam to right-center field, Lindor’s eighth of his career, that made him only the third Met ever to hit a grand slam in the Bronx, joining Mike Piazza (2000) and Carlos Delgado (2008). It was also the 24th multi-homer game of his career.
The Mets hit six home runs on the night — the first time they’ve done that to the Yankees in Subway Series history.
Cole’s Nightmare in the Bronx
Gerrit Cole lasted just 4.1 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits. In his last three Subway Series starts he’s now 0-3 with a 10.92 ERA and has allowed 10 home runs. Rookie Zac Thornton, meanwhile, threw seven solid innings in his Subway Series debut to earn the win, improving to 4-5.
How Far Is Ripken?
Lindor needs 54 more home runs hit while playing shortstop to tie Ripken’s all-time record. That’s mathematically possible — but it’s not around the corner. It depends on how many more years he stays at the position, how often he slides into the DH spot, and how his body holds up. Before Ripken, shortstop was a defense-and-speed position. Ripken proved it could be power too — and then played 2,632 consecutive games on top of it. Those 345 positional home runs are the clearest measure of what that revolution meant.
For now, Lindor has passed Tejada in the conversation. The list reads: Ripken, A-Rod, Tejada — and Lindor, tied at the bottom of that group. The difference is that one of those lines is still active.
The win was also the Mets’ 22nd in their last 35 games since the August 3 trade deadline. The team is trending up. So is Lindor’s spot on the all-time list.
