STUNG JEURYS
Familia save streak busted By cards
Yoenis Cespedes hit a long home run in the seventh inning Wednesday night that gave the Mets the lead and seemingly set up an improbable win against Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals.
Instead, it merely put the Mets in position for an ugly defeat, as Jeurys Familia blew his first save since he coughed up three leads last postseason in a 5-4 loss at Citi Field — with another familiar face tying the game in the top of the ninth.
“This is a tough one to take,” manager Terry Collins said after watching Familia surrender two runs — one on an RBI double by Yadier Molina.
“You come back on Adam Wainwright and have a chance to have a pretty big night and to have your closer, who been lights out, give up two, it’s tougher to take,” Collins said. “We were behind the whole game, came back late and suddenly the whole game got set up in our favor to where you’ve got the eighth and ninth inning set up pretty good.” Or at least he thought he did. Familia had converted 52 straight save opportunities in the regular season — the third-longest stretch in MLB history — until his meltdown against St. Louis.
Molina’s RBI double to center with one out in the top of the ninth scored pinch-runner Randal Grichuk from first and made it 4-4, wiping out the heroics of Cespedes.
“I just tried to get a ground ball,” Familia said. “I left it a little bit in the middle and he had a good swing.”
Then, after Jeremy Hazelbaker reached on a fielder’s choice, pinch-hitter Kolten Wong doubled to left to put the Cardinals in front.
It was a comeback hard to see coming after Cespedes turned on a 3-2 Wainwright curveball and blasted it into the second deck in left-center that broke the offense out of its prolonged slumber.
The Mets opened the game hitting .207 with runners in scoring position and with a .608 OPS — both worst in the majors — and went 2-for-14 on Wednesday. But Cespedes’ home run seemed to make up for those numbers.
The bottom of the seventh started with singles by Travis d’Arnaud and pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza, which put runners on the corners before Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out — sound familiar? — to bring up Cespedes.
The Mets managed to score only because Wainwright unleashed a wild pitch, allowing d’Arnaud to race home and make it 3-2. Then, Cespedes delivered his 22nd homer of the season.
The good feelings didn’t last long.
Logan Verrett gave them a solid performance, as he bounced back from a three-run third to go seven innings, allowing just those three runs. Addison Reed pitched a scoreless eighth to set up Familia, who was looking for his 37th save.
Instead, after Familia got Matt Adams to line out to left, he walked Jedd Gyorko — who had homered twice in Tuesday’s doubleheader — on four pitches and Molina pounced on the first offering he saw.
“You know it’s eventually gonna happen,” Wilmer Flores said of Familia’s inability to come through. “Nobody’s perfect. He made a pitch Molina was ready for. Some hitters would try to pull that ball. Molina didn’t.”
The loss meant the Mets still haven’t won consecutive games for nearly three weeks.
“It’s definitely a tough one to swallow since we came back,” Flores said. “What can you do? We’re still right there. And we still believe in him.”