Yoenis Cespedes leaves Game 5 with injury after fouling a ball off his knee

NEW YORK — Yoenis Cespedes lied motionless in the batter’s box and Citi Field went quiet.

Up with the bases loaded and nobody out in sixth inning — the New York Mets’ best chance so far to bring runs across in Game 5 of the World Series — Cespedes fouled a ball directly off his kneecap. He didn’t move at all afterward, for about 30 seconds, not until the Mets training staff came to tend to him.

Here’s a look at what happened:

Cespedes eventually got up, moved around a bit and the Mets decided to keep him in the game to hit. It was a big decision: Do you want someone you know is healthy up with the bases loaded, in a game in which you have a one-run lead against baseball’s best bullpen? Or do you want Cespedes, the team’s most powerful bat — even though he hadn’t been too great in the series and he might have just seriously injured his knee?

The Mets opted for Cespedes. While people had visions of him hitting a grand slam and limping around the bases Kirk Gibson-style, the reality was much more painful. He popped up and could barely get out of the box and back to the dugout. In hindsight, the Mets would have had a better chance calling on Juan Uribe to pinch hit. Lucas Duda came up next and hit a sac fly to give the Mets a 2-0 lead, so all was not lost, but the opportunity to capitalize in a backs-against-the-wall elimination game was not fully realized.

Juan Lagares replaced Cespedes in the outfield in the seventh inning. No matter what happens in the end of Game 5, this will be a big storyline. What if the Mets lose and regret not getting an able-bodied batter up in that situation? If the Mets win, will Cespedes be available for Game 6? Time will tell.

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