Headed in opposite directions
Seventh straight victory give Amazins their best 10-game start in franchise history
Despite a fever and sickly batting average that were probably related, New York Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes had no interest in taking a day off.
And the Mets were glad to have him at the plate with the game on the line Tuesday night.
Cespedes hit a two-run double to break a tie in the ninth inning, giving the Mets the best 10-game start in franchise history when they beat Miami 8-6.
The Mets (9-1) earned their seventh consecutive victory, their longest winning streak in two years.
Cespedes kept the streak going by snapping a 1-for-21 slump that included 13 strikeouts. It’s probably no coincidence he has been fighting a bad cold since last weekend.
“He has been feeling terrible and still playing,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “I’m trying to sit him. ‘Hey Ces, do you need a day? Do you need a day?’ He didn’t want one. He won us the game today.
“For him to battle through what he’s going through is pretty good.”
Asdrubal Cabrera hit a pair of solo homers for the Mets, who blew a three-run lead and then came from behind. They’ve won four consecutive series to open a season for only the second time ever, and the first time since 2006.
It was another dismal night for Miami (3-8) and new CEO Derek Jeter. The Marlins were blown out 20-1 Saturday at Philadelphia, the worst defeat in franchise history, but manager Don Mattingly said the latest loss was worse.
“These kind of sting,” Mattingly said. “These are the games you want to put in the win column.”
To compound the misery, for the second night in a row Miami drew the smallest crowd in the seven-season history of Marlins Park. Attendance was 6,516.
Miami’s Justin Bour hit his first two home runs of the season, each with a man on.
The score was 6-all in the ninth when Amed Rosario reached on a throwing error by third baseman Brian Anderson. Brad Ziegler (0-2) walked Michael Conforto, and Cespedes bounced a one-out double down the line just past Anderson.
Even with the hit, Cespedes still felt crummy after the game.
“I’m not going to say I feel good, because I’m not OK,” he said through an interpreter. “No fever anymore, but I feel something in my throat and I’m congested in my nose, so I can’t breathe well.” Why did he play? “The only way I can get out of this slump is to take at-bats and go out and do what I do, which is hit,” he said.
The double hiked his average to .190.
Hansel Robles (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. Jeurys Familia followed with a perfect ninth for his sixth save, most in the majors.
The Mets’ Jacob deGrom couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead, and Bour’s two-run homer put Miami ahead. Bour hit another two-run homer off Jacob Rhame in the seventh to break a 4-all tie.
Solo homers by Wilmer Flores and Cabrera in the eighth off Kyle Barraclough made it 6-all.
DeGrom was a little unlucky in the fifth, when he allowed four runs. Pinchhitter Yadiel Rivera and Miguel Rojas reached on scratch singles sandwiched around a single by Derek Dietrich. After Starlin Castro hit a sacrifice fly, Bour drove an 0-2 fastball over the wall the opposite way.
DeGrom pitched six innings and then watched his teammates score four runs in the last two innings.
“This is a fun team to be around,” he said. “These guys grind out every at bat
and find a way. They did a great job of picking me up.”
d’Arnaud tears elbow ligament
Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud is on the disabled list for the fifth straight year, and the injury appears to be significant.
New York said Wednesday that d’Arnaud has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The Mets said surgery is possible and treatment will be determined
in a few days.
The 29-year-old righthander had an MRI Wednesday. He is 3 for 15 (.200) with one homer and three RBIs in four games this year.
While at Triple-A, d’Arnaud didn’t play after June 25, 2012, because of a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He made his big league debut with the Mets the following year and in 2014 was sidelined from May 14-28 with a concussion.