Game Recap

Mets No Match For Dodgers

Here’s the long story short on the Mets game – the Dodgers are just a much better team. 

The Mets got homers from Conforto, Wilmer Flores and Curtis Granderson in the first to get out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Seth Lugo would no-hit the Dodgers for 4.2 innings. And, yet, the Mets had no hopes of winning this game. 

With a pair of Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger blasts, the Dodgers tied the game in the sixth. 
Yasiel Puig homered off Paul Sewald to lead off the seventh giving the Dodgers took the lead and didn’t look back. 
In total, the Dodgers hit five homers, including one from Justin Turner, who we should all remember was a player the Mets kicked out the door.

As if things weren’t aggravating enough, Terry Collins found a way to pull Michael Conforto because as we know, if you want to win a game, you pull your best bat from the game. 
Game Notes: Amed Rosario was 0-4 marking this as his first hitless game in the majors. 

page top

Rosario Debut Ruined By Darvish And Utley

What could have gone down as a pretty interesting game fell apart. 

Both Jacob deGrom and Amed Rosario picked up their first career stolen bases in the game:

Other than that, there wasn’t much reason to cheer. After Michael Conforto‘s single to lead-off the bottom of the first, the Mets offense would only get two more hits. 

Long story short, Yu Darvish completely dominated the Mets. He pitched seven innings allowing just three hits. If not for the stolen bases, no Met would have made it to scoring position. He only walked one and struck out 10. 

Unfortunately, deGrom could not match zeros with him. It was pretty impossible to do it when Chris Taylor homered to begin the game. 

In total, the Dodgers just wore down deGrom, who would need 99 pitches to get through just five innings. His final line was five innings, five hits, three runs, three earned, three walks, and eight strikeouts. 

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse with the offense not performing and deGrom struggling, Josh Smoker would throw an ill-advised change-up to Chase Utley. 

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/893651237480136704

Just like that, it was 5-0 Dodgers. After scoring a run off Chasen Bradford in the seventh, it was 6-0 Dodgers.  It might as well have been 600-0 at that point. The Mets were overmatched and were not going to do much in this game. 

This game was a solemn reminder of the different directions these two teams have gone since that epic NLDS just two years ago. 

Game Notes: Conforto, Rosario, and deGrom were the only Mets to get a hit in the game. Conforto was the only Met with a multi-hit game. 

page top

Collins Numb To Pitcher Issues In Mets Loss To Rockies

With the way the Mets season has progressed, you would think when a pitcher says, “Hey!  I can’t feel my fingers!” they’d pull him from the game. 

Nope. 

The Mets decided to keep Hansel Robles in the game. Actually, his physical problems were much worse than that:

So, with all of that going on, Terry Collins kept Robles in a tie 4-4 game in the ninth. Here’s what transpired:

Game Over. 

The last pitch of the Arenado at-bat wasn’t even close. The 3-2 pitch was a solid foot over the strike zone. Travis d’Arnaud helplessly leaped because there was nothing much more for him to do, but not even he could have framed that pitch. 

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/893239961545302016

The shame of Collins gambling with both the game and Robles’ health was the fact the Mets continuously fought back in this game. 

Rafael Montero struggled, but he kept the Mets in the game. Over 5.2 innings, he allowed 10 hits, four runs, four earned, and one walk with six strikeouts. 
More than anything, Montero just couldn’t hold a lead. 

The Mets rallied from a 2-0 third inning deficit by scoring runs in three consecutive innings. Yoenis Cespedes got things started with a homer off Rockies starter German Marquez:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/893202101811257344

The following inning, Amed Rosario got things started by become the first Met to hit two triples in his first three games. He did more than just set Mets records on the triple:

He then scored on a Montero RBI single. His first career RBI.  

After his single tied the game, he gave the Rockies the lead back by yielding a solo homer to Charlie Blackmon. 

Curtis Granderson, who was 1-2 with two walks, got the sixth inning off to a good start by earning a lead-off walk. After a pair of groundouts, it seemed as if he’d be stranded out at third, but Rene Rivera came through with the two out RBI single.
Sure enough, Montero allowed the Rockies to take the lead again. This time it was a Mark Reynolds home run. After that homer, the Rockies would put runners at first and second with two outs. Josh Smoker, who has pitched much better of late, came in and struck out Alexi Amarista to end the inning. 

The Mets then beat up on Pat Neshek in the seventh inning. Consider for a moment that Neshek has allowed just seven earned runs all year, and the Mets have scored four of them. The fourth came in this game. 

Michael Conforto singled to lead-off the inning, and he scored from first on an Asdrubal Cabrera from center field. Despite there being no outs and the middle of the order coming up, the Mets couldn’t push across that last run. 
With the Mets sticking with a reliever who couldn’t feel himself grip the ball, they lost the game. It was the second time the Mets lost 5-4 on a Rockies walk-off against Robles. 

Game Notes: Jose Reyes started at second base for the first time with the Mets since 2004. At that time, Kaz Matsui was the Mets rookie shortstop. 

page top

Mets Bullpen Picks Up The Win

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Mets play in a real Coors Field game, but the stage was set with Chris Flexen and Tyler Chatwood being the starters for tonight’s game. 

Flexen was getting hit hard all night, but he dodged a number of bullets thanks to some good defense from Amed Rosario and Yoenis Cespedes throwing out a runner at the plate. 

The floodgates would eventually happen in a five run third punctuated by a Carlos Gonzalez two run homer to dead center. 

After that Flexen was done having thrown 64 pitches in the three innings. He might’ve been coming out anyway, but his developing a blister on the index finger of his pitching hand essentially sealed the deal. 

Normally, you’d expect for this game to be over, especially with this Mets bullpen. Then again, this is Coors Field. 

Michael Conforto and Asdrubal Cabrera got things started in the fourth hitting back-to-back singles to set up first and third with no outs. The rally sputtered a bit with Cespedes hitting into a double play allowing Conforto to score. The Mets would pull to within 5-2 on a Jay Bruce solo shot:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/892932832791801856

In the fifth, Curtis Granderson got things started by ripping a ball past Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds. The play was scored as an error. Granderson would then score on a Rosario ground rule triple. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Rosario hit a call down the third base line. As Rosario was beginning to round second, a fan touched it before Gerardo Parra would  get to it. This was Rosario’s first extra-base hit and RBI. 

Travis d’Arnaud was then robbed of a base hit by Trevor Story. Instead of an RBI single, d’Arnaud had an RBI groundout, and the Mets pulled themselves within one. 

It’s in the sixth then the Mets offense really broke out. 

The sixth started with Cespedes doubling home Cabrera tying the game. . Bruce followed with a walk. After Brandon Nimmo hit into a force play, it was runners at the corners with one out for Granderson. Granderson untied the game:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/892944145559539712

The rally wouldn’t end there. d’Arnaud, Jose Reyes, and Conforto hit consecutive singles making it 9-5. A Cabrera RBI ground rule double made it 10-5. 

In that inning, the Mets batted around scoring six runs. 

What is truly remarkable about this game wasn’t the rally. It was the Mets bullpen keeping the Rockies at bay:

The Sewald outing was particularly informative for a player who may still yet be an important part of the Mets bullpen next year. 

After a clean seventh, he was called to pitch another inning. He then worked around a Reynolds double. This is the latest example we’ve seen with Sewald where he’s comfortable pitching when there’s pressure. Better yet, he typically works his way out of if. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ramosaj01.shtml

The good bullpen work carried forward to the ninth with AJ Ramos. 

This was all part of pitchers making the adjustments they need to make to succeed. Wins and losses don’t matter much when the Met is going nowhere. Rather, you’d like to see them improve at their role.  At least for tonight, we saw them successful in both fashions. 

Game Notes: Josh Edgin cleared waivers and was sent down to Triple-A. This was Bradford’s first career win. 

page top

Rosario Flashes Talent And Inexperience In Debut

Surrounding all the hoopla of Amed Rosario‘s first game with the Mets, a baseball game broke out, and it was a pretty good one at that. 

Rosario’s impact was felt immediately. In the first, he made a couple of plays including turning a 1-6-3 double play. 

That play helped preserve a 1-0 lead when Yoenis Cespedes doubled home Michael Conforto, who has reached with a lead-off walk against Rockies starter Jeff Hoffman. 

That lead grew to 2-0 when Jay Bruce doubled in Cespedes from first in the sixth. 

At that point, things looked great for Steven Matz. Despite a rough stretch over his last four starts where he pitched to a 14.18 ERA (not a typo), he was dealing. 

Through the first four innings, he had a no-hitter going. That was broken up on a Trevor Story lead-off single. On the play, Rosario got to a ball no other shortstop on the roster comes near, but with one slight tap of the glove before the throw, Story was able to beat it out. 

In that inning, he labored, but he managed to work his way out of the jam. He wasn’t so lucky in the sixth. 

A DJ LeMahieu double set up second and third with no outs. Matz was flirting with disaster since the fifth and in the following at-bat. He fought back into the st-bat getting it to a 3-2 count, and that’s when Nolan Arenado hit an opposite field go-ahead homer. 

After a Mark Reynolds double, Terry Collins finally pulled Matz. The combination of Josh Smoker and Erik Goeddel would limit the damage keeping the game at 3-2.

The Mets tied it in the seventh with some help from Rockies catcher Ryan Hanigan. When Pat Neshek struck out Jose Reyes to start the inning, Hanigan whiffed on the ball. With the ball going to the backstop, Reyes reached base safely. 

Reyes moved to third on a Conforto single, and he’d score the tying run on an Asdrubal Cabrera sacrifice fly. On the play, Charlie Blackmon didn’t have much of a chance to get Reyes, but still:

It would be untied in the eighth on a Bruce homer off Chris Rusin:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/892587987346886657

For a moment, it appeared as if that 4-3 lead might grow. 

Rosario would get his first career hit off Scott Oberg. It was an infield single to short (turnabout is fair play). Rosario moved to second on Story’s throwing error. It appeared as if Rosario was going to score his first career run when the ball left Travis d’Arnaud‘s bat. 

Unfortunately, the ball ricocheted off Oberg’s leg to Reynolds. Reynolds was able to flip to Oberg to record the out. It was a bigger out than originally anticipated. 

Paul Sewald started his second inning of relief by allowing a base hit to Reynolds. Collins responded  to this by bringing in Jerry Blevins to face a couple of lefties. 

Blevins responded by allowing singles to Gerardo Parra and Carlos Gonzalez. The hit by Gonzalez was cued right off the end of the bat, and Cabrera had little to no chance to get anyone out. With Blevins allowing yet another inherited runner to score, it was a tie game. 

The Rockies rally sputtered when Hansel Robles came on to get the last two outs. Robles wouldn’t be so lucky in the ninth. 

After allowing a lead-off walk to Blackmon, LeMahieu hit what could’ve been a double play ball. Likely, it was just a fielder’s choice. Still, that play wasn’t turned as Rosario broke towards second with Blackmon moving on the play. With Rosario booting it, it was first and second with no outs instead of bases empty with no outs. 

After that, Arenado blooped the ball into center, and Conforto had no chance to get Blackmon. Ballgame. 

Overall, it was an entertaining game where we saw all that Rosario could be. We also saw that he’s an inexperienced rookie that needs more seasoning. 

Game Notes: Matt Reynolds was sent down to make room for Rosario on the roster. 

page top

deGrom Not Being deGrominant Isn’t Enough

With Jacob deGrom having won eight straight starts and today’s game being a day game, you’d think this game was as close to being a lock as you could imagine. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards today. Home Plate Umpire Shane Livensparger had an inconsistent strike zone, and that’s putting it nicely. He also lost some focus after losing control and hitting Mitch Haniger in the face with a fastball. 

https://twitter.com/smashtalksports/status/891406081766957056

After the game, deGrom admitted the HBP affected him:

It should come as no surprise. After all, deGrom is human. How else can you explain him allowing a two RBI base hit to Jarrod Dyson?

The Mariners lead grew to 3-0 in the the inning. That wasn’t so much on deGrom as it was Neil Walker. Walker took what should’ve been a double player grounded off the bat of Robinson Cano. Instead of the double play, it was second and third with no outs.

It really is a testament to deGrom the only damage that inning did not spiral out of control. The only run scored that inning was a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nelson Cruz. 

The 3-0 lead was problematic because the Mets offense couldn’t get going. In fact, the Mets didn’t get a hit with a runner in scoring position until there were two outs in the ninth inning. 

Before that, the Mets were 0-8 with RISP with a wake of missed opportunities. The biggest one was in the sixth inning.

The Mets had Yovani Gallardo on the ropes. It led the Mariners to go to Tony Zych, walked both Curtis Granderson and Wilmer Flores to force in a run. With Jose Reyes lining out on a 3-2 pitch, the rally was over. 

Asdrubal Cabrera killed a rally the following inning by hitting into a double play. 
The Mets best chance came in the ninth. Michael Conforto singled home Flores, who led off the inning with a double. It pulled the Mets to within 3-2.

It was another good game for Conforto in his hometown. At the plate, he was 1-4 with an RBI and a walk. In he field, he made this play:

 Sadly, that’s where it ended with Cabrera striking out to end the game. 

The Mets now have one more game in Seattle. For many, this will be their last ever game in a Mets uniform. If that’s the case, let’s hope things go different than they way they did today. 

Game Notes: Lucas Duda homered in his second consecutive game for the Rays. AJ Ramos should report in time to be active for Sunday’s game. 

page top

Conforto Homers Twice In Comeback Win

This was a Mets game that went from promising to false hope, to utter surprise, to more often same, to sheer shock, and finally joy. 

The Mets were off to a quick lead thanks to homers from Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/891129995120316417

The homer must’ve been extra special as he was back in his hometown in front of his friends and family.

The Mets lead grew to 4-0 when Wilmer Flores hit a third inning sacrifice fly scoring Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera found himself on third because while advancing to second on a Ariel Miranda wild pitch, catcher Mike Zunino hit him with the throw. With no one guarding third, Cabrera was able to get there without a play. 

For an ever so brief moment, this seemed like enough for Rafael Montero, who started the game terribly. Through the first four innings, Montero had allowed just one hit – a homer by Zunino. It all came crashing down for him in the fifth. 

There were some reasons why. Montero was facing the Mariners the third time through the order. He was getting squeezed a tad by the home plate umpire. As Keith Hernandez pointed out, Rene Rivera was not calling a good game. No matter what the reason, the biggest issue was Montero stopper executing. 

Montero loaded the bases with no outs, and he threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. It was definitely a wild pitch, but it’s also true Rivera didn’t get down completely to block that pitch. 

Montero then walked Jean Segura to re-load the bases, and Robinson Cano hit a sacrifice fly to pull the Mariners within one. Montero then issued another walk, this one to Nelson Cruz, to re-load the bases. At this point, Terry Collins did what he had to do, and he pulled Montero. 

Unfortunately, Josh Edgin didn’t get the job done. He allowed a two run RBI single to Kyle Seager. With that, the Mets 4-1 lead became a 5-4 deficit. 

Through the work of Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins, the Mets remained within a run. 

The Mets got that run back when Conforto hit not just his second homer of the game, but his second homer of the game against a lefty. This time it was Marc Rzepczynski. 

This led to the Mariners bringing in a friendly face – David Phelps.  Entering the game, Phelps had a career 6.09 ERA against the Mets. The ERA would go up. 

Cabrera and Bruce each singled, and Flores hit what could’ve been a double play ball due to his lack of speed. With Flores just barely beating the throw, the inning continued. 

Neil Walker would go the other way with the ball hitting an opposite field RBI single against the shift. Flores would then score on a Curtis Granderson RBI single off the glove of Mariners first baseman Danny Valencia. The single gave the Mets a 7-5 lead. 
Like we’ve seen with Paul Sewald on a few occasions this year, he got himself into some trouble. With the Mets having used both LOOGYs, Collins stuck with his young reliever in this spot. 

After a Jarrod Dyson sacrifice bunt, the Mariners had runners at second and third with one out. 

Sewald escaped the jam striking out Zunino and getting Segura to strike out.

This set the stage for what may very well be Addison Reed‘s last save opportunity as a Met. 

With a Ben Gamel grounder eating up Walker, it appeared as if this could be another tense outing. Reed settled down, and he erased Gamel inducing Robinson Cano to hit into a 4-6-3 double play. After a Nelson Cruz fly out, Reed had his 19th save of the year. 

It was a good win. At a minimum, it shows even with the Mets selling this team is still playing hard. 

Game Notes:  Lucas Duda homered in his first game with the Rays. The Mets obtained AJ Ramos in a deal with the Marlins. Segura tried his best to get on base by pretending to get HBP (overturned by review):

page top

Flexen’s Tough Debut

This was about a bizarre a debut as you will possibly see. Unfortunately, that wasn’t always a good thing for Chris Flexen. 

On the third pitch of his Major League career, he allowed a homer to Manuel Margot. The inning would continue, and the Padres would have runners on the corners with one out. That’s when Travis d’Arnaud would help his young pitcher with two outstanding tags:

The first was off a nice play from Flexen to field a Cory Spangenberg safety squeeze. d’Arnaud then blocked the plate and get the tag down on Carlos Asuaje. 

During the next at-bat, Spangenberg broke for second. With d’Arnaud throwing through, Wil Myers broke for home. Wilmer Flores made a strong albeit slightly offline throw.  In one motion, d’Arnaud caught the throw and just tagged Myer’s hand before his foot touched the plate. 

The second inning didn’t go as well for Flexen. 

The Padres loaded the bases with no outs, and Margot struck again hitting a double to the wall. Luis Torrens originally stopped at third, but he came home to score as Asdrubal Cabrera forgot how the pick up a baseball. For reasons that cannot be explained, Michael Conforto got charged with the error. 

Flexen was able to navigate out of this inning, and he pitched a good third. With his having thrown 69 pitches, and his turn due up, Terry Collins lifted him. 

Flexen’s final line in the loss was three innings, five hits, four runs, three earned, four walks, and two strikeouts. 

The young pitcher was shaky in the first couple of innings, and by the time he settled in, his manager went elsewhere. Hopefully, he will get one more start to prove himself. 

With Flexen out, Collins went to Tyler Pill despite Pill having thrown two innings yesterday. It came back to burn the Mets as a gassed Pill allowed three runs to give the Padres a 7-1 lead. 

In another bizarre twist, the Mets used both Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz as pinch hitters. This was due to Lucas Duda getting traded and T.J. Rivera. 

The real shame in all of this is just with one or two different things happening, the Mets might’ve won this game. Case in point was the seventh inning outburst. 

With the Mets down 7-1, Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI double leading the Padres to pull starter Luis Perdermo and bring in Jose Torres.  Torres immediately balked home a run, and then allowed a home run to Jay Bruce pulling the Mets to within 7-5. They’d get no closer. 

After the homer, it was 7-5 Padres. The Mets would get no closer giving the rookie his first major league lost in his first career start. 

Game Notes: Flexen became the first Mets pitcher to make the jump from Double-A to the majors since Mike Pelfrey in 2006. 

page top

Defense Matters, That’s Why The Mets Lost 

Here’s the game in a nutshell. Steven Matz didn’t have it, and the Padres defense made the 85 Bears look like a sieve. 

The Padres were hitting Matz hard right from the jump when Manuel Margot hit a two run homer to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. 

After a scoreless second, the Padres jumped all over Matz again scoring four runs. Matz didn’t get help from his defense. Case in point was the Cory Spangenberg grounder. 

Jose Reyes couldn’t pick it up cleanly, and he made an ever so slightly offline soft toss to Wilmer Flores. It wasn’t a particularly difficulty play for either middle infielder, but neither could complete the play. Only because it was home town scoring, it was ruled a “single.”  

This was Reyes’ second RBI of the night with him singling home Jay Bruce in the second inning. 

After that third inning, Matz was done. His ugly final line was three innings, nine hits, six runs, six earned, no walks, and four strikeouts. Honestly, Matz probably wasn’t even that good. 

The Mets did have a chance to get back in this game in the sixth inning. 

The Mets loaded the bases with one out against tiring Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin with Lucas Duda coming to the plate. Padres Manager Andy Green went to the left-handed Buddy Baumann to face Duda.

Duda hit a deep enough fly ball, but the combination of Hunter Renfroe‘s arm and Asdrubal Cabrera‘s lack of speed, there would be no sacrifice fly. Cabrera would score when Baumann walked Reyes pulling the Mets to within 6-2. 

Craig Stammen came in to pitch to Rene Rivera, who hit a hot shot up the middle. Allen Córdoba made a nice play on the ball, which could’ve been a two RBI single, and got Rivera at first to end the inning. 

With Reyes and Córdoba, we really witnessed what a difference defense makes. Then again, we saw it all game long with this Padres defense, especially with both Margot and Jabari Blash making sliding catches to rob Michael Conforto of a couple of hits. 

The Mets did pull within 6-3 when Flores homered to center:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/890432456020688896

Even with the homer, the Mets couldn’t catch up to the Padres. Maybe the Mets would’ve had a chance if they had better defense, but the Mets were content to punt on defense this year. It’s haunted them many times. Tonight was the latest example.

Game Notes: Erik Goeddel, Tyler Pill, and Hansel Robles combined to pitch five scoreless innings out of the pen. Pill will likely be demoted tomorrow to make room for Chris Flexen, who is scheduled to make his MLB debut tomorrow. 

page top

The Full Cespedes Experience

During last night’s game, we got to see the full experience of what it has been like watching Yoenis Cespedes in a Mets uniform.  Much like he did in 2015, we got to see Cespedes make an immediate impact in the first inning with a home run off of Padres starter Kyle Lloyd:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/890034579041636353

After the Padres played some Home Run Derby of their own with Hunter Renfroe and Allen Cordoba each hitting a pair of third inning home runs off Seth Lugo, the Mets were trailing 3-1.  For Renfroe, it was his second homer in as many at-bats against the Mets, and it was his third homer in three days.  Thank God he plays in the NL West.

After the Mets pulled themselves within a run in the fourth with Travis d’Arnaud getting another two out RBI in this series, it was time for Cespedes to go back to work and help take this game over.

Cespedes joined the doubles hit parade in the fifth.  After Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a pair of doubles, Cespedes followed with one of his own to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.

It was just one of those nights where things weren’t going to be easy.  After Lugo surrendered a lead-0ff single to Matt Szczur, Cabrera didn’t get down low enough to field what should have been a Jose Pirela ground out.  This set up first and second with no outs.  Both runners would advance on a deep Carlos Asuaje fly out.  Lugo did his best to limit the damage by allowing just one run to score on a Wil Myers sacrifice fly.

Lugo’s final line was six innings, eight hits, four runs, three earned, no walks, and one strikeout.  He got the win in large part because of Cespedes.

The game winning runs came on what was about as bizarre as a Little League home run as you are ever going to see:

Where do you begin with this one?  The check swing triple?  Myers throwing the ball away when there was no play at third?  Cespedes’ head first slide into home?  The offline throw from Cory Spangenberg?  Or was it that Hector Sanchez failing to both catch the ball and tag Cespedes?  It was the typical comedy of errors you see in your standard Little League home runs, but with Major League Baseball players.

With the triple, Cespedes found himself a single short of the cycle – the easiest one to get.  Cespedes didn’t get that chance.

Despite Gary Cohen trying to assure us Michael Conforto was coming into the game in left field in a double switch so Terry Collins could get two innings out of Paul Sewald, we all knew better.  Cespedes left the game with leg problems, which were later described as a quad tightness.  Who knows how many games he will miss if any.

With Cespedes being the dominant figure in the game, putting the Mets on his back offensively, and leaving the game with a leg injury, Mets fans got the full Cespedes experience.  Or at least very close to it as we did not get to see Cespedes unleash his cannon of an arm.

From there, Collins went to Addison Reed, who must be on fumes, in the ninth.  The closer, who the Mets are trying their best to keep up his extremely high trade value, had another shaky ninth.  He allowed a Dusty Coleman two out RBI double to bring the Padres to within 6-5.  Much like he did last night, Reed then shut the door to preserve the victory.

With the win, the Mets are now just four games under .500, and they are nine games behind the Colorado Rockies (seven in the loss column) for the second Wild Card.  Of course, this all means little when Cespedes leaves yet another game with a leg injury.

Game Notes: Conforto was initially out of the lineup to give him a day off.

 

page top