Cespedes Marks Return to Mets with Mammoth Homer

METS 1 - BRAVES 0

The last time Mets fans saw Yoenis Cespedes on the field, he had a 2-for-4 night at Yankee Stadium on July 20, 2018. Since that time, heel and ankle injuries, combined with a bizarre incident at Spring Training last year where he was chased down by a wild boar and fell into a hole, and Cespedes' tenure that once started out so promising in New York when he arrived in 2015 had matriculated into a sick joke.

But a little over two years and four days since his last appearance in a Mets uniform, Cespedes reminded the Mets and the fanbase that he can still pack quiet a punch with his bat.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, in a scoreless game that had been dominated by superlative efforts by Mike Soroka for Atlanta and Jacob deGrom for the Mets, Cespedes got around an 0-1 fastball by reliever Chris Martin and crushed it into the second deck at Citi Field for his first home run in two years. It gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, the only run they would need on the most bizarre Opening Day the Mets would ever take part in, one that took place in late July due to the novel Coronavirus.

Cespedes nearly fell down when he crushed that pitched; straightened up and trotted around the bases - pain free - a reminder of how good this Mets lineup could be with him in it, anchoring the heart of the order behind Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto. If only this was a regular 162 game season -- the prospects for production would be off the charts.

As for deGrom, he was his usual stellar self. He dominated the Braves over five innings, allowing only one hit and a walk, while striking out eight batters. He left after five innings and 71 pitches, and in typical Mets fashion, they didn't give him any run support.

Seth Lugo worked through two anxious innings in relief, before Justin Wilson made quick work of the Braves in the top of the eighth.

Finally it was up to Edwin Diaz, the same guy who pitched to a 5.59 ERA in 2019 and was one of the biggest busts of the entire season last year for New York.

And of course the tension was still there. Even with no fans in the building, you could imagine the throngs of Mets fans watching on TV with pillows over their eyes through the entire experience.

On the first pitch Diaz threw, Ozzie Albies hit a rope to second baseman Robinson Cano who made a spiffy play on the ball to throw out the speedy Albies. Next, Diaz lost Freddie Freeman to a five-pitch walk, although it could have been much worse, when Freeman connected on 3-0 and nearly hit a game-tying home run that just went right of the right field foul pole.

With Freeman leading off of first, Diaz came back to strike out both Miguel Ozuna and Matt Adams to end the ball game, securing the closer's first save of the year, and get New York to an important 1-0 start in a 60-game season.

KEY STAT: The Mets remain kings of Opening Day. New York is 39-12 in their last 51 season openers dating back to 1970.