Less than a year ago, the Mets were lucky to score 12 runs in a series. On June 9, 2015, the last time the San Francisco Giants came to Citi Field, unheralded Chris Heston tossed a no-hitter. By April 2016, things had definitely changed. Yoenis Céspedes, a trade deadline acquisition who was the catalyst to the 2015 team and re-signed the past off-season, changed the dynamic of the Mets lineup.
The ability of the offense was maximized on a Friday night at Citi Field — and then some. When Céspedes unleased a laser beam of a home run over the left-field wall for a grand slam off San Francisco reliever Mike Broadway, the 12 runs scored in the third inning set a franchise record. It also ensured two personal milestones for New York’s dynamic outfielder. Céspedes set team records for most RBIs in an inning (six) and consecutive games with an extra-base hit (nine) in a 13-1 New York rout.
Giants starter Jake Peavy breezed through the Mets’ initial two tries at-bat, but then helped initiate the Mets’ opportunity for a big inning by issuing two straight walks — to Curtis Granderson and David Wright. Big inning? More like the biggest inning ever.
Michael Conforto doubled into left-center field for the Mets’ first run. Céspedes began his one-man one-inning destruction with a single to center, driving in Wright and Conforto.
After Lucas Duda walked, Neil Walker continued the trend of extra-base hits with a double that landed just inside the right-field foul pole. It drove in Céspedes and drove Peavy from the game.
New pitcher, same results. Asdrubal Cabrera delivered a double against Broadway. After a walk followed by a strikeout of Steven Matz, the top of the order kept the line moving.
Granderson sent a deep fly ball that was unable to be caught by right fielder Hunter Pence at the wall. It was scored an RBI single as Cabrera scored. Wright walked to fill the bases and Conforto singled to plate Kevin Plawecki. That once again brought up Céspedes. Providing the exclamation point to the scoring dozen, his slam broke Butch Huskey‘s individual record of five RBIs in an inning back on May 26, 1998 and surpassed the team record of 11 established in the sixth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 16, 2006.
New York made a return trip to the postseason, capturing an NL Wild Card spot. But so did the Giants. And in a one-game showdown to determine who would move on to the Division Series, New York’s offense was completely shut down by Madison Bumgarner in a 3-0 defeat.
