deGROM DELIVERS AS METS ROLL
Mickey's moves pay off as Mets start 2-0
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Well, it wasn’t broke, but manager Mickey Callaway still did some fixing to the Mets’ lineup.
And the results for Game 2 were as good as Game 1, so no one’s complaining.
“We’ve got guys that haven’t even played yet that can start and will start on occasion. So getting all of our players in the game and using them all, we have no qualms about that,” Callaway said. “We trust every one of them and they showed up and did the job.”
After revealing a slightly different lineup than the masher alignment utilized Opening Day, Callaway emphasized the “faith” he has in all his guys and his desire to get them to play. That faith was rewarded Saturday.
Todd Frazier, hitting cleanup, drove in three runs, and Travis d’Arnaud, who sat the opener, and Yoenis Cespedes, the slugger who has been the No. 2 hitter in the order, slammed solo homers in support of Jacob deGrom as the Mets improved to 2-0 with a 6-2 victory over the Cardinals at Citi Field in front of 36,098.
“Same approach. Nothing has really changed. We’ve got guys going up there if they get that first pitch they’re driving it,” said Frazier, who stroked a two-run double in the first inning and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
So maybe Callaway will petition Major League Baseball for a 13-man batting order. Every move he made worked. Again. But there was — and is — some anxiety. Reliever An
thony Swarz ak left in the eighth inning with a sore left oblique and will be reevaluated Sunday.
DeGrom worked into the sixth, striking out seven. Including Noah Syndergaard’s 10-K effort Thursday, Mets starters have fanned 17 in 11 2/3 innings. And this despite deGrom not having his best stuff.
“I thought he was OK,” Callaway said.
“Felt good early on. There in those middle innings kind of lost the feel for fastball, slider so I went more changeup,” said deGrom, who gave up an RBI single to Jose Martinez in the fourth and lasted for 101 pitches, striking out his last two batters. “Was having a hard time getting a grip on the ball, but other than that was able to keep them off the board, gave them one run and these guys did a good job of putting up some runs for me.”
DeGrom breezed through the first, and the Mets quickly struck against Cardinals starter Michael Wacha, who was tagged with the loss. Asdrubal Cabrera, leading off, got his first hit of the season — the first of three on the day — by doubling into the right-field corner. Cespedes walked before a force out at third. Frazier then sent a laser to left for a two-run dou
ble. Cabrera had been Thursday’s cleanup hitter.
“I have faith in everybody on our roster and I want guys to play. I don’t want guys sitting around for five, six days and not playing,” Callaway said.
The other tweaking included Juan Lagares starting in center over Brandon Nimmo and d’Arnaud catching instead of Kevin Plawecki. Lagares delivered two hits, and d’Arnaud ripped his first homer on a 3-2, up-in-the-zone fastball leading off the fourth for a 3-1 lead. Cespedes mashed a 2-1 curve for his first homer to up the lead to 4-1 in the fifth.
An infield hit by Cabrera, a walk to Cespedes and a groundout set up Frazier for his third RBI with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, when the Mets went up 5-1. After Carpenter’s homer in the eighth, Cabrera drove a RBI double for a 6-2 lead.
“We’re sticking to our approach and it’s fun to play,” said Frazier, who added he was fine despite getting plunked on the hand in the fifth. “They get a run, we got one back. That’s the biggest thing jumping back on them putting the pressure on them. We’ve started early so it feels pretty good.”