Conforto starts to break out of funk
Michael Conforto started his postgame talk with the media with a smile. The Mets’ young outfielder was happy to talk about what went right for him Sunday afternoon, rather than discussing his balky back or his recent cold spell. “I felt good today,” he said. “I found some holes today.” Conforto’s two-hit, twoRBI effort came at t he perfe c t time for the reeling Mets, who avoided a fourgame sweep by the NL East-leading Nationals with a muchneeded 5-1 victory at Citi Field on Father’s Day.
This was the Conforto who had carried the Mets lineup for large stretches when Yo enis C esped es was on the mend. Conforto reached base in four of his five plate appearances, singling twice, drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch.
In the fourth, he drove in a run by cuing a Joe Ross pitch off the glove of third baseman Anthony Rendon. In the sixth, he added a key insurance run, lacing a Ross sinker to left-center field. It was his first multiple-hit, multiple-RBI game since May 23, a span of 19 starts.
“Using the whole f ield is a big thing for me,” said Conforto, who reported no lingering back issues after starting the last three games. “It was good to see, hitting the ball well up the middle, poking one down the line. Obviously, those are good things.”
Conforto was hitting .341 as recently as May 25, with a 1.149 OPS. Since, he was in a major funk — Conforto entered Sunday 13 for his last 70, a .185 clip, with 14 strikeouts — followed by a minor back injury that cost him four starts. Upon his return, he had to face Nationals co-aces Max Scherzer and Steven Strasburg, two of the best pitchers in baseball who held him without a hit in six atbats.
“He raised the bar so high with what he did for two months, that [there were] expectations for him to stay up there,” manager Terry Collins said. “This is the big leagues. Those other teams, they make adjustments. What he’s got to do is return and back off and say, ‘Hey, I’m got to make some changes, too.’”
Over the last month, opposing pi tc hers have worked Con for to more carefully, trying to get him to expand the zone. Though he has drawn his walks over the last month — 14 during the slump — he has also not been nearly as disciplined. Conforto said he isn’t working on anything specific, just to have good at bats, and not get pull-happy.
“Eventually ,” he said, “the results would come. It always comes back. I’ve been through it before in this game.”