CONFORTO RIDES TO THE RESCUE
LEADOFF HR, THREE RBIs SPARK AMAZIN’S OVER BRAVES
ATLANTA — With the Mets’ vaunted starting pitching depth getting thinner and th inner, there will be nights when the obvious must prevail. Let the lumberjacks do it. “There’s going to be nights where the offense is going to have to win games. You can’t ride pitching the whole year,” said manager Terry Collins. “You’re going to have a night where they are going to be off.”
Like Monday. Robert Gsellman was hardly great but he got a win — largely through the bats of Michael Conforto and Jose Reyes. They each homered while combining for f ive RBIs for the Mets, who made their first-ever game in Sun Trust Park a 7-5 mental health victory over the Braves.
The Mets, who still have lights burning in the window for the returns of Steven Matz (strained flexor tendon) and Seth Lugo (partially torn ulnar collateral ligament), saw ace Noah Syndergaard go down Sunday when the Mets surrendered 23 runs. After an MRI Monday revealed a partial right lat tear, Syndergaard went on the disabled list.
All in al l , a pretty lousy 24 hours.
“Yesterday was frustrating but we put it in the past,” said Conforto who led off the game and made like Rickey Henderson, cracking his third leadoff and seventh homer of the season, then singled in two runs in a five-run fourth. “This group can move on. It’s def initely tough losing a guy and getting beat the way we did.”
Yeah, down 18 late and with a failed on-sides kick.
Confor to did his damage against noted Met killer Julio Teheran (2-2). In his previous seven starts against his usual punching bag, the righthander went 4-0 with a 0.91 ERA. In 17 career games, he was 8-3 with a 2. 25 ERA, with only two other active pitchers having more wins against the Mets.
“Quality at- bats stacked on top of each other … against a guy we’ve had trouble with in the past is definitely a good sign ,” Conforto said.
Reyes twice scorched the ball and came up empty, but picked up an RBI in the fourth with a bases-loaded groundout. Reyes unloaded his third homer of the season, a solo shot in the eighth off reliever Ian Kroll, to provide insurance for the bullpen that worked four scoreless innings and included Jeurys Familia getting his second save. Reyes believes his slump is done.
“No doubt. Feeling good at the plate, seeing the ball good. Earlier in the season I was chasing a lot of bad pitches,” Reyes said. “But I never put my head down. I came with t he same attitude every day and I knew at some point I was going to turn it around.”
The chief beneficiary — aside from Collins’ blood pressure — from the offensive display was Gsellman (1-2) who had a rocky start, surrendering a leadoff homer in the first to En der Inci arte, the center fielder’ s fifth of the season. Gsellman worked into the sixth and gave up five runs and six hits in five innings, walking one without a strikeout. But everyone seemed pleased. “Until the sixth inning, he was actually pitching pretty well,” Collins said.
“I got a lot of ground balls [10] today. A couple pitches I wish I could take back but that’s just part of the game,” said Gsellman. “I had my sinker down in the zone a little more and it led to a lot of ground balls. I left a couple up and it led to a couple runs.”
That included two in the
fourth when, after the Mets struck for f ive, an RBI groundout by Nick Markakis and RBI single by Adonis Garcia made it 6-3. Those two added RBIs were charged to Gsellman in the sixth when it became 6-5.
In t he fourt h, Asdrubal Cabrera singled and Jay Bruce doubled before Neil Walker singled in a run. Curtis Granderson walked before Reyes had his RBI bounce-out. After Travis d’Arnaud was intentionally walked, T.J. Rivera foiled the strategy with a single to center, making it 4-1. Conforto delivered his two-run single for a 6-1 Mets lead.
“[Sunday] was an ugly, ugly day,” Collins said. “The injury was bigger than score of the game for me but it shows you, you’ve got to move on.”
And sometimes, let the guys with the bats do the heavy lifting.