Lindor relieved to finally be giving Mets fans reasons to not boo

Francisco Lindor was regularly jeered by New York Mets fans during a season-opening slump, but after hitting a grand slam during a blowout win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, the shortstop is happy he's giving the Citi Field crowd something to cheer about.

"I was happy. It just sucks getting booed," Lindor said, according to Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News.

"It's that simple. I want to do the best I can do every single day to help the team win and I was just listening to see if I was going to get booed. ... I'm nowhere near my best. So when I do have a little bit of success, I want to sit back and listen, feed off the crowd again. When they cheer, now, it gives me that extra motivation to push forward."

The Mets acquired the 27-year-old along with Carlos Carrasco in a blockbuster trade that sent Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez to the Cleveland Indians. Prior to the start of the regular season, the four-time All-Star signed a 10-year, $341-million extension with his new club.

"Listening to them as I rounded the bases, cheering and celebrating with their loved ones, it's something that we don't really do," Lindor continued. "We don't really sit back and watch (the fans). So when I hit the home run, all I was thinking was, 'Look around, see how the fans react,' and it was pretty cool to see the fans reacting."

The two-time Gold Glove winner and Silver Slugger is starting to come around offensively, now hitting .221/.320/.366 with 10 homers and eight steals for the season. If the campaign ended today, he would still post career lows in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. However, over the past 30 days, he's hitting .230/.336/.420, which are closer to career norms.