Mets Hold Off Brewers for 9th Straight Win

METS 6 - BREWERS 5

No d'Arnaud? No Plawecki? No problem. A combination of great defense and timely hitting paved the way for the Mets to hold off a very good Milwaukee Brewers team 6-5 in the first of a three-game series at Citi Field. With the win the Mets have captured their ninth straight victory, while boasting baseballs best record at 11-1.

The Mets cracked the seal on this one in thunderous fashion. In the bottom of the first, Asdrubal Cabrera doubled to right, before Yoenis Cespedes drove him home on a single to center. An inning later, Todd Fraizer crushed a Zach Davies pitch off the Mets Apple in centerfield for a solo homer to make it 2-0 Metropolitans.

The early lead by the Mets sent a huge message that the team was not going to let the bad news earlier in the day drag them down. Instead a sold out crowd at Citi Field saw a Mets team that was chomping at the bit to get back on the field after a day-off.

After Milwaukee tied the game on a two-run shot by Hernan Perez in the top of the fourth, Fraizer was at it again for the Mets, this time launching his second home run of the night to hand the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Come the fifth inning, New York poured it on the Brew Crew, knocking out its ace Zach Davies in the process after he walked Michael Conforto and gave up a single to Asdrubal Cabrera.  With Dan Jennings now in the game, the Mets teed-off. Jay Bruce doubled to right, driving in Conforto to make it 4-2. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Cabrera to make it 5-2, and Bruce would score the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.

From there the Mets had to hang on, and once again Mickey Callaway pressed all the right buttons to guide the Mets to their ninth straight win.

After Ryan Braun launched a two-run homer to right off of Steven Matz in the top of the sixth inning, Callaway brought in Seth Lugo, and the right-hander was able to get the Mets out of two prickly jams. First he got a slow roller by Orlando Arcia for the start of a 5-4-3 double-play to get out of the sixth inning.

In the seventh, former Kansas City Royal, Lorenzo Cain ran himself into an out when he misjudged the arm strength of Cespedes, who threw a bullet to Todd Fraizer at third for the final out of the inning.

Later Callaway won a game of bullpen chess, using four pitchers to get around a potential Brewer rally with the Mets clinging to a one-run lead in the top of the eighth.

Perhaps the biggest moment of that inning, and the game for that matter, came with runners on first and second for Milwaukee.  Robert Gsellman, who has been so good for the Mets in this young season, fell behind 2-0 to catcher Jett Bandy before coming back to jam the light-hitting catcher on a slow come-backer to get out of the inning.

Finally, it was Familia time! The Mets closer never looked better as he blew past Eric Thames, Lorenzo Cain and Domingo Santana on only 13 pitches for his seventh save of the season.

NOTES: In addition to the Mets 6-5 win over the Brewers, the Washington Nationals fell to the Colorado Rockies 2-1, meaning the Mets hold a six game lead on the Nats for first place. Atlanta is currently in second place at 3.5 games back.

With Travis d'Arnaud out for the year with a UCL tear that will require Tommy John Surgery, and Kevin Plawecki out for a month with a broken hand, the Mets recalled Brandon Nimmo and Jose Lobaton from Triple-A Las Vegas. New York optioned rookie Jacob Rhame to Triple-A.