It was a night of close calls as the Mets held
off a series of Yankee rallies to beat their cross-town rivals 7-5 in the Bronx
on Friday night, but when the game ended that wasn’t the only story.
A night that began with Yoenis Cespedes return to the lineup, ended
with increased speculation that the Mets were close to trading closer Jeurys
Familia, who did not pitch the ninth inning. As it turned out Familia was dealt
to the Oakland A’s, who are competing for a wild card berth in the American
League.
Before the trade talk picked up, the Mets built a 6-1 lead on the
Bronx Bombers in the early frames. The Amazin’s wasted no time, tagging Yankees
starter Domingo German with three runs in the opening frame.
Asdrubal Cabrera kicked things off with a RBI double to drive in Brandon Nimmo to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Two batters later,
Michael Conforto ripped a RBI double to right, before Jose Bautista followed
with a RBI double of his own to build a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third, Cespedes joined the party when he clipped
the left field foul pole for a solo home run to push the Mets lead to 4-0.
Cespedes had a really productive night in his first game back for the Mets.
Slotted as the Designated Hitter, Cespedes went 2-for-4 with two runs scored
and homer. It was an encouraging sign after the slugger missed 57 games dating
back to mid-May.
Speaking of having a stellar night, Conforto was on point. The Mets left fielder delivered his second
RBI of the night when he singled to left in the top of the fifth inning to
increase the Mets lead to 5-1. Confroto
ended the night with three RBI, none bigger than his Sac Fly RBI in the ninth
that provided some needed run support.
On the hill, Noah Syndergaard had an uneven night for the Mets. He
held the Yankees to just one run over five innings, but he labored with his
velocity for much of the night. At one point in the fifth inning his velocity
topped only 94 on his fastball.
Manager Mickey Callaway and the trainers had to check on Syndergaard
to make sure he didn’t aggravate the figure injury that kept him sidelined for
two months. Syndergaard convinced Callaway he was ok to stay in the game. He
rewarded the Mets by striking out Giancarlo Stanton, and jamming Aaron Hicks on
a liner to left.
Syndergaard left after five innings and 84 pitches under his belt.
The rest of the evening had Mets fans on the edge of their seats as
the bullpen flirted with blowing yet another ball game.
Seth Lugo labored through two innings of relief, allowing a Neil
Walker two-run double in the sixth inning to cut the Mets lead to 6-3. Of
course Lugo was not helped by shortstop Ahmed Rosario, who did his best Luis
Castillo impression when he dropped a pop up by Greg Bird earlier in the
inning.
Still Lugo found a way to pull a Houdini act in the sixth and
seventh innings before passing the baton
to Robert Gsellman.
Gsellman got into some serious trouble in the eighth when Brett
Gardner reached on another error by Rosario, and Aaron Judge singled. Didi
Gregorius followed with a RBI double to left that scored Gardner to cut the Met
lead to 6-4. After Stanton grounded out into a RBI, the Mets decided to walk
Aaron Hicks in order to match-up Gsellman against slugging catcher Gary
Sanchez.
Gsellman fell behind 2-1 before coming back to strike out Sancehz on
a pair of sliders to get out of the jam.
The ninth inning proved to be much quieter for Gsellman as he earned
the save in his new job as Mets closer.
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