METS SURVIVE SHAKY HARVEY
BRUCE BLAST WINS IT IN 10 th
ST. LOUIS — The thunder that has been missing from the Mets’ biggest bats was heard Tuesday night, rattling loudest in the 10th inning.
Jay Bruce, who had arrived early to the ballpark for extra batting practice — along with Yoenis Cespedes, among others — sent a shot over the centerfield fence at Busch Stadium that perhaps signaled his emergence from an April slumber.
“I think overall my timing has been a little off,” Bruce said after the Mets beat the Cardinals 6-5. “It hasn’t felt really in sync for an extended period of time yet.”
Bruce homered with two outs in the 10th against Matt Bowman to steal a victory for the Mets in a game that had a little of everything, including Matt Harvey making his first appearance since his reassignment to the bullpen. The beleaguered righthander entered a tie game in the fifth and allowed one run over two innings. Afterward, he declined to speak with reporters.
Cespedes’ three-run homer in the fifth against Luke Weaver created the biggest racket. The shot to left field was measured at 463 feet — the third-longest blast by an opposing player in this ballpark’s history.
“[This] is the day we have been waiting on, to get those guys going,” manager Mickey Callaway said, referring to Bruce and Cespedes. “They are out there to win and they got the job done tonight.”
Cespedes, who entered 4-for-40 (.100) on the road this season, recently indicated he might need to resume playing golf during the season to rescue his swing. But on Tuesday, he said he still isn’t playing golf.
“I can’t — my clubs are in Florida,” he said.
Bruce, who entered batting .194, finished with three hits, including a single in the eighth that helped the Mets tie the game.
“We haven’t really been clicking on all cylinders overall,” Bruce said. “But we’ve had guys pick us up and we’re playing very good baseball, and I think that is kind of an ode to the talent and depth we have.”
The Mets tied it 5-5 in the eighth on Adrian Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly, after Bruce had singled Todd Frazier to third. Bruce’s hit was only the Mets’ fourth of the night at that point.
Harvey entered a tie game in the fifth and got two fast outs before Dexter Fowler and Paul DeJong delivered consecutive doubles to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead.
“[Harvey] threw the ball well,” Callaway said. “Stuff was crisp, he kept the ball down and it looked like to me he was out there challenging hitters and attacking.”
Fixing Harvey is important to the Mets, but it hardly ranks as the team’s primary goal.
So Harvey, in his new role as reliever, will be treated like any other member of the bullpen. In other words, the Mets will not create situations for Harvey to pitch just for the sake of getting him into a game. Likewise, there is no situation from which Harvey will be exempt, if the game dictates.
“This isn’t about one person, it’s about 25 guys and the whole organization, so we’re going to do what we need to win games,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said before the game. “This isn’t extended spring training where we are going to pick and choose our spots to develop a guy. We are not trying to develop anything here, we are trying to win games.”