Yoenis Cespedes powers red-hot Mets into sole possession of first place
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
When the New York Mets traded for Yoenis Cespedes, the expectations were obvious: He’d invigorate the team’s sluggish offense. He’d lead them back to first place. Well, that didn’t take long.
The Mets pounded the Miami Marlins on Monday night, winning 12-1 as Cespedes went 3-for-5 with three doubles and four RBIs. The win put the Mets in sole possession of first place in the NL East, a place they sat earlier in the season.
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It had been six weeks since the Mets had been overthrown by the Washington Nationals. The way their offense was playing — worst in MLB by a number of metrics — it didn’t seem likely that New York would ever be able to take it back. But they swept the Nats over the weekend to tie the division and kept that hot streak going right into Monday to re-claim first place. Manager Terry Collins told Marc Carig of Newsday after the game:
“They’ve earned it. They belong there,” said Collins, whose team showed no signs of a letdown. “And hopefully we stay there for a while … Everybody goes through down times. We went through ours. We held together. And we’re back.”
The Mets’ pitching was solid once again. This time Bartolo Colon tossed eight innings, scattering seven hits and just letting in the one run. They have the third-best team ERA in MLB at 3.24. Here’s one more advantage seemingly in the Mets’ corner. They have the easiest schedule in baseball from here on out.
D-BACKS SUBDUE NATS
Now onto the team the Mets will joust with in the standings the next two months. That’s the Nats, of course, and they didn’t have a great time playing the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night. Rookie Zack Godley pitched six shutout innings, giving up only three hits and striking out six. Nick Ahmed, meanwhile, was 4-for-4 at the plate.
[ELSEWHERE: David Price’s first start with Blue Jays was exceptional.]
The Nats were down 6-0 in the ninth and tried to mount a comeback. They scored four and had Jayson Werth up as the tying run. He grounded out, Yunel Escobar fouled out and that was that. Final score: D-backs 6, Nats 4.
GIANTS BLOW SIX-RUN LEAD, LOSE IN EXTRA INNINGS
The San Francisco Giants hit four homers by the fourth inning, holding a 6-0 lead against the Atlanta Braves. Good enough, right? Wrap that baby up, listen to some Outkast at the hotel and come back tomorrow. Wait, not so fast. The Braves weren’t ready to give up.
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Atlanta scored four runs in the sixth inning, tacked on another in the seventh and eventually tied the game when loathed-ex-Giant A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth. To extra innings, they went. The Giants scored one in the 12th, but the Braves still didn’t submit. Adonis Garcia hit a two-run, walk-off homer to secure the 9-8 win.
ANGELS SNAP SIX-GAME LOSING STREAK
The Los Angeles Angels had lost six straight games heading into Monday night and the Cleveland Indians looked about ready to make that seven. With reigning Cy Young Corey Kluber on the mound, the Indians jumped out to a 3-0 lead. But the Angels came back, powered by newcomer Conor Gillaspie, who hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning.
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The Angels eventually won 5-4, as Garrett Richards overcame the early trouble to strikeout 11 in 7.1 innings. He improved to 11-8 on the season.
Want to see more from Monday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
