Smashing return: Cespedes hits slam in win
By George Henry ATLANTA » Yoenis Cespedes made a smashing return from a six-week stint on the disabled list, hitting a grand slam as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1 Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader. The second game was not comleted by press time.
Cespedes, back from a strained left hamstring, said before the game that he still didn’t think he could run at 100 percent. The slugger didn’t need to go fast after connecting against Luke Jackson in the ninth inning.
Cespedes sent a drive over the left-center field wall and was able to trot slowly enough to soak in the moment and smile at his cheering teammates. He went 2 for 5, including his seventh home run of the season.
Robert Gsellman (53) won his third straight start. He gave up three hits, two walks and struck out four in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Braves three in a row.
Brandon Phillips’ fourth homer for Atlanta cut the lead to 2-1 in the eighth off Fernando Salas. But closer Addison Reed got five outs for his 10th save.
Braves starter Sean Newcomb (0-1) lost in his major league debut despite allowing just one unearned run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
T.J. Rivera and Wilmer Flores each had a sacrifice fly for the Mets, who had won avoided dropping to a season-worst nine games under .500. New York had lost 10 of its last 14 road games.
The Mets went up 2-0 in the eighth. Jackson hit Michael Conforto on the uniform with a pitch, Cespedes singled and a passed ball advanced the runners. Conforto scored on Flores’ sacrifice fly.
New York took a 1-0 lead in the second, helped by Newcomb’s throwing error on a potential doubleplay ball. LONG POND, PA. » Rain, rain, go away. And maybe come back late Sunday with Chris Buescher in the lead.
Buescher was one of the biggest surprise winners in the NASCAR Cup series in years when he took the checkered flag in a rainshortened race last year at Pocono Raceway.
He had finished 30th or worse 10 times before August when he rolled into Pocono in the No. 34 Ford. There was nothing in his Cup resume that suggested Buescher would sniff the lead, even under gloomy conditions. Buescher hadn’t led a lap all season.
But the poor results and underdog status with underfunded Front Row Motorsports hardly mattered on a stormy weekend that had already pushed the race back a day.
With nasty weather punishing the track, NASCAR called the red flag with 22 laps left and Buescher declared the winner after about an 80-minute delay. He was doused with beer and water in a makeshift victory lane celebration inside a garage stall, his Ford covered on rainy pit road instead of bathed in confetti.
“Yeah, we needed a jon boat to get back to the hauler afterward,” Buescher said. “The garage was about a foot deep (with water). It was a pretty awesome deal getting that win and having everything play out the way it did. It was a big moment for us.”
Buescher’s win had ripple effects far beyond hoisting a trophy at Pocono. He made NASCAR’s Chase and spent a playoff round racing for the championship with veterans such as Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
Buescher’s win earned him spots in the Clash at Daytona and the All-Star race, marquee events usually reserved for some of the sport’s heavy hitters.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., set to retire at the end of the season, recently endorsed Buescher among a small handful of up-and-coming drivers that fans should root for in the years ahead.
“If you want to pick a guy that I think is just as talented as these guys, but you want to work your way up with him, Chris Buescher. I think that Chris did an amazing job in the Xfinity Series,” Earnhardt said on his Dirty Mo Radio podcast.
Buescher was surprised Earnhardt singled him out as a dark horse pick for Junior Nation to follow next season.
“I just want to tell him, ‘Thank you for that,”’ Buescher said. “When he talks, our fans listen. And so that’s pretty awesome to be talked about in that manner. I think it says like a ‘dark horse’, right? And so that kind of sums it all up, right?” Sure does. Buescher’s win has turned him into more of a one-checkered wonder than a regular contender. Buescher is under contract with Roush Fenway Racing, who farmed him out to Front Row last season. Roush lent him to JTG-Daugherty Racing for a second Chevrolet entry this season. He’s 26th in the points standings and has no top 10s in the No. 37 Chevy this season. He hasn’t finished better than 11th.
“We’re going to get out there and get a win, the best I can tell, and be able to get into the playoffs that way,” he said.
Here are some other items of note at Pocono: