What Happened, In a Sentence:
Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker showed what the Mets have been missing on their awful road trip, and the Mets win 9-5.
Mets Offense Shows Potential
Friday night’s 8-1 loss looked like the nail in the coffin of the Mets’ season. Multiple throwing errors, baserunning blunders and a leaky bullpen sent the Mets two games below .500 and 5.5 games out of the second wild card spot. On Saturday, the Mets finally rolled out a lineup with five opening day starters as Walker returned to the lineup. If they can stay healthy, they may have a (slim) chance of making the playoffs.
In the first inning it looked like the Mets were going to squander another opportunity. Jose Reyes doubled to deep center and Asdrubal Cabrera singled. Just like last night, a Met runner tried doing too much – Cabrera tried taking second on a ball in the dirt to Cespedes and had no chance as the ball bounced right in to Buster Posey’s glove. Cespedes eventually doubled down the line for the Mets’ first run. Walker walked, but the Mets couldn’t get another run.
The Mets did most of their damage in the sixth inning. Jake Peavy came out of the bullpen and showed why the Giants demoted him. Five consecutive Mets hit the ball hard, capped by Alejandro De Aza pulling a home run down the right field line after a long at-bat. Cespedes drove a mistake well past the left field wall in the seventh for his second home run of the game.
Colon Contains Giants
After giving up over one run per inning on this road trip, the Mets were desperate for a pitcher to limit the damage. Bartolo Colon did what he does best, pound the strike zone. Home plate umpire Mark Carlson had a consistently small strike zone, so Colon left a number of pitches in hittable zones and gave up nine hits. San Francisco tested the Mets’ infielders in the fifth as Gregor Blanco bunted to Reyes for a single and then Wilmer Flores misplayed a sharp grounder to put the go-ahead run on in the fifth. Posey grounded sharply to the right side but Walker stabbed the ball to prevent a big inning.
Bullpen Shaky Again
Colon was pulled with one out in the seventh after completing his third time through the order. Josh Smoker fared much better in his second career outing, retiring both hitters to end the inning. Terry Collins had Jim Henderson warming up in the fifth and sixth inning, but he turned to Hansel Robles in the eighth with an 8-2 lead. Robles gave up a walk, line out and walk. Addison Reed came in and promptly walked Hunter Pence to load the bases. Eduardo Nunez doubled and Joe Panik hit an RBI groundout to make it 8-5 before Reed could end the inning. After the Mets added a run in the top of the ninth, Reed stayed in to work a relatively clean bottom of the inning. It wasn’t the most inspiring relief appearances, but it was still a vast improvement on the previous night.
What’s Next?
The Mets try to salvage a series split on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Noah Syndergaard may take aim at the San Francisco Bay.
Photo credit: Lance Iversen – USA Today Sports