All-Star starter Francisco Lindor enjoys big night after slumping Mets drop him from leadoff spot

NEW YORK (AP) — On the same day he got elected to start an All-Star Game for the first time, Francisco Lindor was dropped from the leadoff spot with the New York Mets in a major tailspin.

And the move paid off immediately.

After making 191 consecutive starts at the top of the lineup, Lindor batted second as the designated hitter Wednesday in the finale of a day-night doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers and their rookie sensation, right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.

“Whatever it takes to win,” Lindor said. “I don’t have to hit in one place. I’ll hit wherever the team thinks is the best thing.”

Brandon Nimmo returned to the leadoff slot and launched a grand slam off the hard-throwing Misiorowski in the second inning. Lindor followed with his 17th homer, then added an RBI single with two outs in the sixth and a run-scoring double with two outs in the eighth as New York won 7-3 to stop a four-game skid.

“Look, when you're talking about two really good players, for me as a manager to make those types of decisions, it’s a lot easier when they’re all-in,” Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza said. “It's a privilege for me. And I'm glad that they went out there and they executed and we got good results today.”

A slumping Lindor went 0 for 4 as New York mustered only two hits during a 7-2 loss in the opener, leaving him 2 for 29 with one walk in his past seven games. Before the nightcap he was 8 for 60 (.133) in 15 games since June 15, and his batting average had plummeted from .289 with an .858 OPS on June 7 to .255 with a .766 OPS through Game 1 of the twinbill.

Nimmo was bumped up to leadoff, a role he was accustomed to before Mendoza moved Lindor from third in the order to first in May 2024, citing the success the switch-hitter enjoyed atop the lineup earlier in his career with Cleveland.

The change led to Lindor breaking out of a prolonged slump and the Mets taking off following a miserable start. The star shortstop finished runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP last year, and New York made a surprise playoff run before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

“I’ve told Mendy I don’t care where I hit. I’m going to have the same approach,” Nimmo said. “Whatever helps us win, that’s what I’m down for.”

Lindor and the Mets both got out of the gate much better this season, but New York (49-38) has lost 14 of 18.

After a long run batting leadoff, Lindor said it didn't feel weird to hit elsewhere.

“It feels weird not playing shortstop,” he explained.

In results announced Wednesday night, Lindor beat out fellow finalist Mookie Betts of the Dodgers in fan balloting to be the starting shortstop for the National League in the July 15 showcase at Truist Park in Atlanta.

It marked the first All-Star selection in five seasons with the Mets for Lindor, who signed a $341 million, 10-year contract with New York after being acquired from Cleveland in a January 2021 trade. He made four straight AL All-Star teams with Cleveland from 2016-19 — but never as a fan-elected starter.

When he heard the news, a “happy and proud” Lindor called his wife and father.

“This is something that you can't take for granted. It's a fantastic event,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it.”

The previous Mets shortstop to win a starting All-Star assignment was José Reyes in 2011.

Nine different players were among the 12 shortstops picked for the NL All-Star squad the past four years over Lindor, often a slow starter since joining the Mets. But he's finished in the top nine in NL MVP voting each of the last three years, and won Silver Slugger awards in 2023 and 2024.

“Very well-deserved. We're so happy for him,” Nimmo said.

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New York Mets' Francisco Lindor (12) hits an RBI double during the eighth inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Brandon Nimmo (9) hits a grand slam during the second inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor (12) hits an RBI single during the sixth inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the sixth inning in the second baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers of a doubleheader Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor (12) runs the bases after hitting a home run during the second inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor (12) waits at the plate while a strike call is reviewed during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, June 20, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor hits a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”

Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”

Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.

The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”

Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”

Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.

Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.

AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)