Jose Bautista, after being officially added to the Mets roster only about two hours before the game, started for the team and batted fifth in place of Jay Bruce, with left-hander Caleb Smith on the mound.

The 37-year old started off his Mets career with a double to left field in the second inning and later scored on a Tomas Nido RBI groundout.

For the night, though, Bautista went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts and the previously mentioned double, with all of his at-bats coming against Smith.

After the game, Bautista talked to reporters about the process he went through the last couple of days after being released by the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, and said it was one of the craziest days he had gone through in his MLB career to date.

“I think it was one of my wildest in baseball. At 2 o’clock., I was sitting on my couch and at 6:30, I was walking in the clubhouse.”

The right-handed slugger said that the Mets showed a level of interest early on, that ultimately was the reason he ended up signing with them.

“They showed interest and when I cleared waivers they made a phone call and we did it pretty fast.”

“That level of interest. It dictates a lot and just the fact that they expressed how interested they were was the most attractive thing to me at that moment.”

Sandy Alderson, before the game, intimated, as detailed by Mike Puma of the New York Post, that Bautista will likely play against left-handers mostly, as that is where the Mets could use the help.

“This was really a move made to balance our lineup, and lengthen it against left-handed pitching, with or without Yoenis in the lineup.”

On the season, the team has collectively hit .208/.285/.306 against left-handers as compared to .246/.323/.410 against right-handers.

With Yoenis Cespedes on the disabled list and Juan Lagares out for the year, the Mets had been trotting out Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, and Brandon Nimmo in the outfield, all of which are left-handed hitters.

Their alternatives, prior to signing Bautista, were Phillip Evans, Wilmer Flores, and Jose Reyes. Now, Bautista is almost certain to play against all lefties, whether it’s in the outfield or at the hot corner, where they are currently without Todd Frazier.

He did say, though, that Bautista is not just here for the short term, as the Mets view him as someone who will hopefully remain with the team for the remainder of the season

“One of the things we don’t want to do is create a similar situation to the one he just exited, which is kind of a short-term stint based on injuries.”

Bautista is now hitting .158/.256/.368 on the season with two homers and five RBI in 38 at-bats (13 total games).