Mets jump out early, hang on
NEW YORK » In a season where a lot has gone wrong for the New York Mets, a jovial Jose Reyes gave his team a reason to smile on Labor Day.
The 34-year-old Reyes looked like his old self Monday when he homered, drew two walks and sped from first to third on an infield out during an 11-7 win over the Phillies that broke a four-game skid.
Donning the crown and cape awarded by his teammates to the outstanding player of the game, Reyes then got on his phone and fired away a couple of inspirational messages to David Wright.
“It was an important win with all the bad news that we’ve received lately,” Reyes said. “We still had to go out to do our jobs out on the field. We know what the team is going through with all the injuries this season, but we still have to keep playing hard and finish off the season strong.”
Tuesday, Wright will undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder. The star third baseman didn’t play in the majors this year.
“David Wright is like a brother for me, being that we’ve played a lot of years together,” Reyes said.
“He’ll continue to work. He’ll go through his operation. He’ll rehabilitate himself. He’ll try to return. I told him whatever you need, don’t hesitate to communicate with me.”
Asdrubal Cabrera homered to back Rafael Montero, who won his second straight start.
After an impressive outing at Cincinnati in which he tossed 8.1 scoreless innings, Montero (4-9) allowed four runs and five hits in 5.1 innings.
The Mets chased Mark Leiter Jr. (2-5) by sending 11 batters to the plate during a six-run fourth.
“They had a good game plan against me and swung the bats really well today,” said Leiter Jr., who grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, and played college ball at the New Jersey Institute of Technology before the Phillies took him in the 2013 draft.
Reyes extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his 10th homer of the season to lighten up the mood on a team that has been beset by one injury after another over of weeks.
Cabrera’s two-run shot was his 12th of the season, one in which the Mets were positioned to make a third straight run to the playoffs before almost every player on the opening day roster made a trip to the disabled list.
Ahead 4-0, the Mets broke it open in the fourth. Gavin Cecchini hit a tworun single and after a fielding error by shortstop Freddy Galvis on a bunt by Montero, Reyes — who started at shortstop in place of Amed Rosario — had a RBI single.
Nori Aoki drove in another run with a grounder and Reyes took advantage the last couple of the Phillies defense by advancing to third before reliever Kevin Siegrist’s wild pitch let him score.
Reyes started the season as the club’s third baseman and then shifted to short in late June when Cabrera, who was showing deficiencies fielding at short, went on the disabled list.
In 122 games, the 15-yearveteran is hitting .238 with 42 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.
Once the Mets made the decision that Rosario was ready to make the jump from Triple-A Las Vegas in August, Reyes was there to guide the new kid and willingly accepted the move to second, moving around the field whenever manager Terry Collins made the lineup.
“Of course I’m a big Jose Reyes fan and I’m very, very excited that he’s gotten going,” Collins said.
“He’s a guy that’s just said, look, I’ll do what I have to do to play. And he’s done that. Fortunately, he’s gotten hot at the right time for us and he’s a guy that certainly I think is going to establish himself as a very, very good extra player.”
The inning lasted nearly 40 minutes and a run around the bases perhaps didn’t benefit Montero, who was 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in his previous four starts.
The Mets righty ran into trouble in the fifth, facing six batters and allowing one run.