Magic Night for Francisco Lindor in Puerto Rico
According to Google maps, getting from Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico to the city of Caguas doesn’t take very long. Just get on Highway 18 heading south until it runs into Highway 52 which takes you right into the city. It’s about a half-hour’s journey, in all. Getting from Caguas to Hiram Bithorn Stadium, on the other hand, was the journey of a lifetime for the Cleveland Indians’ Francisco Lindor.
Born in Caguas in 1993, Lindor left the island at age 12 and moved to central Florida. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2011 and rose through the ranks to reach the majors in 2015 – at the age of 21. Since then he’s been an All-Star, won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award, hit a grand slam in the postseason against the Yankees, and very nearly won a World Series ring in 2016. And have you got a copy of RBI Baseball 18 laying around the house? Because if you do, there’s no need to tell you that Lindor’s the guy on the cover.
In just a few short years at the big league level, there isn’t much that the player known as “Mr. Smile” hasn’t accomplished. Yet when his career winds down – wherever and whenever that will be – what happened to him on the night of April 17, 2018 will rank at the top of that list. No Hollywood movie could match that moment for sheer drama and excitement and Lindor, along with thousands of his countrymen, will never forget it for as long as they live.
Baseball had planned to make a return to Puerto Rico after the city hosted the Montreal Expos during parts of the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The Mets and Marlins played a three-game series there in 2010. In May of 2016 the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins were scheduled to play a series in Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, but an outbreak of the Zika virus scrapped those plans.
MLB decided to give it another go in the summer of 2017, announcing that the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins would play two games in San Juan in April of 2018. As one of the most high-profile players in the game, as well as a Puerto Rican native, Francisco Lindor was asked about his feelings, and he replied, “It’s going to be a dream come true.”
As everyone knows, disaster struck the island last September in the form of Hurricane Maria. The damage that was done to Borinquen by the Zika virus paled in comparison to the storm’s devastation. It seems logical to believe that some thought was given to moving this series, as well. That the games are still being played at all is nothing less than remarkable.
Lindor claimed it was going to be “unreal” playing in his native country and he had no idea how accurate his statement would be. As the leadoff batter for the visiting team – they were both visiting teams, really, but somebody had to bat first – Lindor was the first batter to start the game.
That must have been thrilling by itself. His long fly ball to center field in the first must have felt like a Hollywood moment for a brief instant, but Twins centerfielder Max Kepler hauled the ball in.
Lindor struck out looking in the third inning and he came up again against Jake Odorizzi with two outs and a man on third base in the top of the fifth. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Lindor came back to a full count and then lifted Odorizzi’s payoff pitch high in the air toward right. Twins right fielder Robbie Grossman drew a bead on the ball but ran out of room to catch it.
Hiram Bithorn Stadium never heard a cheer so loud. The Indians would later hit three more home runs and post a 6-1 victory, but the play of the game had just taken place, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
As the player known as “Paquito” rounded the bases in triumph, the Boricua in attendance – including Lindor’s family – applauded, not only for their hero, but for the game of baseball and the island itself. The road Lindor had traveled from Caguas to Florida to Cleveland to Hiram Bithorn Stadium was a long and winding one, but it couldn’t have ended up any better than it did on Tuesday night.
