MATZ NO MATCH
Terry Collins arrived at Citi Field Friday knowing he had Max Scherzer to deal with. He thought about stacking the top of the lineup, and when he considered batting slugger Yoenis Cespedes second, he recalled the NL and AL MVPs from last season, Kris Bryant and Mike Trout, each hit second last year.
“So I thought it’d be OK if he hit second,” Collins said of Cespedes. “He’s in an elite group, in my opinion.”
Collins penciled Cespedes in the two-hole behind Michael Conforto, who started for the first time since Sunday after dealing with a stiff back and played center. Cespedes had previously hit second 37 times in his career, all of those games coming in 2015. He finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout and had two throwing errors.
He entered Friday with a .279/.316/.612 slash line batting second with 14 homers and 33 RBI. He hit second 19 times as a Met that season after coming over in a deadline deal from Detroit.
Cespedes is set to play again Saturday for the third straight day before getting a scheduled off day Sunday. “After that, then we’re gonna turn him loose and we’ll see how it goes from dayto-day,” Collins said. “After Sunday we certainly plan on playing him four, if not more in a row.”
Collins considered batting Jose Reyes second, but Reyes’ struggles ultimately prevented that. Reyes did go 2-for-3 with a solo homer Friday after entering the day in a 4-for-45 skid. He raised his average to .191 and will look to build off of his performance as he gets an opportunity at his natural position at shortstop amid increasing hype about prospect Amed Rosario.
“Hopefully, man. Hopefully,” Reyes said. “It’s kind of hard for me. I’m kind of frustrated a little bit because my body feels so good and I’m not able to contribute the way I want to.”
HaRvey to dl
The Mets on Friday placed RHP Matt Harvey and OF Juan Lagares on the 10day DL. Harvey went on retroactive to June 15 with a stress injury to the scapula bone in his throwing shoulder, while Lagares went on after fracturing the IP joint in his left thumb Thursday night. OF Brandon Nimmo and INF Matt Reynolds were recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas in corresponding moves. Nimmo made his big-league debut on June 26 last season.
“A little bit different than last year around this time, a little later this month when I was a nervous wreck coming in here,” Nimmo said.
monteRo in play
Collins said Rafael Montero, who has struggled but pitched well in three mop-up innings on Thursday, is a candidate to start next week as the Mets plan to stay on a six-man rotation. “He is certainly a guy we have to consider after what we saw last night because we know one thing: He’s lengthened out to the point where it’s easy for him to go five or six (innings,)” Collins said.
ex-met HuRt in CRasH
Former Red Sox and Mets infielder John Valentin and his mom were injured when the SUV he was driving crashed into a building in New Jersey. Red Bank Police Chief Darren McConnell says the 50-yearold Holmdel resident was driving along Route 35 on Thursday when the SUV left the roadway and slammed into a building.