The New York Mets (67-64) defeated the Miami Marlins (67-64) by a score of 2-1 at Citi Field Monday evening in extra innings.
Pitching:
Rafael Montero was on the mound for the Mets tonight facing Marlins ace Jose Fernandez and he did about as well as could have reasonably been expected. Montero walked far too many batters tonight but he was able to give the Mets five scoreless innings allowing only two hits. Montero was able to work in and out of trouble but certainly wasn’t getting any favors from the home umpire tonight. All in all, Montero went five innings giving up zero runs, walking six, and striking out three.
Sean Gilmartin came on in the sixth and was able to pitch a scoreless inning.
Jerry Blevins came in and cut through the teeth of the Marlins order also pitching a scoreless inning.
Addison Reed came on in the eighth inning. After retiring the first two batters, Ichiro Suzuki doubled to center fielder Alejandro De Aza. Xavier Scruggs followed and laced a double to left field on a hard line drive to score Ichiro and finally break the scoreless tie and put the Marlins up 1-0.
Jeurys Familia came in to pitch the ninth and was able to pitch a scoreless inning.
Josh Smoker came in and pitched an impressive scoreless inning in the tenth.
Offense:
The Mets got Yoenis Cespedes back tonight but Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera were still out nursing injuries. Jay Bruce was also given the night off. T.J. Rivera was shipped off to Las Vegas in order to activate Montero prior to the game and it left the Mets bench dangerously thin.
The Mets were able to drive Fernandez’s pitch count up tonight but ultimately Fernandez would still pitch six scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jose Reyes lead off the inning with a double. Alejandro De Aza was able to hit a long sacrifice fly to move Reyes over to third base. With Yoenis Cespedes batting, A.J. Ramos threw a wild pitch that brought Reyes home to tie the game 1-1. Reyes was involved in a collision at home base and appeared to have been shaken up.
In the bottom of the tenth inning with two out, Yoenis Cespedes destroyed a pitch left right down the middle of the plate over left center field wall to give the Mets the 2-1 lead and the win.
Notes:
This was Yoenis Cespedes second career walk-off home run and his first since June 21, 2012.
The Cardinals rallied to beat the Brewers leaving the Mets 2.5 games back of the wild card.
The Mets are now 30-16 when they hit a home run at home this year.
Asdrubal Cabrera was named NL Player of the Week.
T.J. Rivera was sent to AAA in favor of Rafael Montero.
Asdrubal Cabrera wasn’t feeling well enough to start tonight but he did pinch hit in the seventh.
Neil Walker remained out of the lineup due to a sore back.
JZ Player of the game: Yoenis Cespedes. Many of the pitchers deserve credit tonight but where would this team be without Cespedes? He proves time and time again how essential he is to this lineup.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a four-game set with the Miami Marlins at Citi Field tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:10 PM. Seth Lugo (1-2, 2.51 ERA), who is coming off five scoreless his last time out, will be looking to take on Tom Koehler (9-9, 3.85 ERA).
