ROUT & OUT
Surging Mets move within game of .500, but lose Cano in blowout
PITTSBURGH — Robinson Cano finally got hot — and then he got hurt.
So on a day the Mets destroyed the Pirates 13-2 at PNC Park to continue their recent torrid play, there was Cano leaving the game with a strained left hamstring, all but ensuring he will be placed on the injured list for the third time this season.
In the meantime, Jeff McNeil slots in as the second baseman, which likely means increased playing time for Juan Lagares in the outfield. Cano is expected to receive an MRI exam Monday that will determine the severity of his strained hamstring.
But as he stood at his locker late Sunday afternoon, it was clear Cano understood he was facing a layoff, just as his season had started improving.
“I don’t really focus on me getting hot,” said Cano, who went 10-for-25 (.400) on the road trip with a homer after snapping a career-longest drought in which he went hitless in 23 at-bats. “I just know the way we have been playing and winning games. We’ll see what happens [Monday] and see what it’s going to be.”
The Mets (55-56) got a second straight dominant start from Noah Syndergaard in winning for the ninth time in 10 games to move within a game of .500 and three games of the NL’s second wildcard spot. They would get over .500 for the first time since they were 15-14 on April 30 with a doubleheader sweep of the Marlins on Monday.
Syn der ga a rd (8-5) allowed one run on three hits over seven innings, with one walk and three strikeouts. Colin Moran ended the shutout bid with an RBI single in the seventh.
In his previous start, against the White Sox, the right-hander allowed only an unearned run over 7 ¹/₃ innings. Syndergaard’s latest gem followed consecutive starts in which Steven Matz and Marcus Stroman each failed to complete five innings.
On Sunday, Syndergaard was content pitching to contact.
“When the offense explodes like that, it really comes alive and gives me a nice cushion,” Syndergaard said. “That changes the way I go about and pitch my game.”
Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis and McNeil all homered to lead the Mets’ 16-hit attack.
But just when all was right for the Mets, they got hit with Cano’s injury. The veteran second baseman rounded first base, reached for his left hamstring and was tagged out in the fourth inning following his third hit of the day.
“That’s a tough one,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He started swinging the bat well. That’s just tough.”
Cano was placed on the IL in May with a left quadriceps strain and returned for one game before he was sidelined again with the same injury.
The Mets turned the game into a runaway in the fourth against Joe Musgrove, when Todd Frazier’s two-run single extended their lead to 8-0. An inning earlier Frazier delivered an RBI single against a drawn-in infield, and Davis’ third RBI of the game, on a single, had put the Mets in a comfortable position.
“We just came out aggressive,” Davis said. “We came out on [Musgrove] early and kept our foot on the gas pedal.”
Conforto homered in the first to get things started and after the first of two Cano doubles, Davis hammered a 449-foot homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Davis’ shot to left field hit the fourth level of a walkway for his 11th homer of the season. Had Davis ever hit a ball so hard? “Probably with a metal bat,” he said. “I hit that one flush. That was pretty good with a wood bat.”
McNeil blasted his second homer in as many days, a two-run shot in the seventh, that extended the Mets’ lead to 13-0.
Now the Mets will try to keep the momentum going with four games at Citi Field against the NL East basement dwellers from Miami.
“Just the confidence we have coming back to the city, it’s going to be really interesting,” Syndergaard said. “We’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.”