Blevins And Cespedes Beat Former/Future Team 

On a night surrounded with turmoil over what were largely benign comments from Yoenis Cespedes about how he wanted to return to Oakland at the end of his career, it was a player who began his career with the Mets who dominated the game. 

In what has been a breakthrough season where Michael Conforto has supplanted Cespedes as the team’s best player, he put on a performance similar to what we’ve seen from Cespedes.

In the third inning, Conforto would give the Mets a 2-1 lead with an absolute bomb that almost hit the Shea Bridge:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888549796323184640

The Mets had trailed 1-0 before that homer due to what was an uneven performance for Steven Matz. 

The A’s began the game by loading the bases with no outs. It was beginning to look like his last two poor starts. The entire tone of the inning, and perhaps the game, changed when Khris Davis hit into a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored on the play, but the rally fizzled. 

Matz gave the 2-1 lead back in the fifth. 

Rajai Davis single and stole second. On the steal, Davis broke early, and Matz threw to first. Lucas Duda made a perfect throw only for Jose Reyes to whiff on the tag:

https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/888560049752203264

It cost the Mets as Davis came to score on a Marcus Semien RBI single. Semien came into the game only hitting .151, so naturally, he went 4-5 with a run and two RBI. 

Semien then scored on a Ryon Healy base hit giving the A’s a 3-2 lead. 

Still, Matz would not get the loss because of a Mets sixth inning rally. 

The rally began with an Asdrubal Cabrera lead-off walk. He moved to second on a Cespedes one out single. Duda then hit a grounder to the A’s first baseman Healy. It took a funny hop and hit him in the side of the head. 

Healy came out of the game, and the bases were loaded. T.J. Rivera then hit a go-ahead two RBI single that became a comedy of errors. Actually, error as there was one error on the play. 

On the single, Duda was thrown out by Davis trying to hit first to third. Rivera, the trail runner, went late to second. A’s third baseman Matt Chapman threw it into right field allowing Rivera to complete the Little League homer. 

The Mets 5-3 lead would balloon to 7-3 as Conforto hit his second homer in the game:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888575204275998720

On what was another great night for Conforto, he was 2-4 with two runs, two homers, and four RBI. 

The Mets would need those insurance runs as the bullpen almost had a complete meltdown in the eighth. 

Erik Goeddel got the chance to shut the door, and he was ineffective. He allowed a lead-off single to Matthew Joyce, and then Josh Phegley doubled to center. 
It was a play a regular center fielder makes, but Conforto is a corner outfielder by trade. In any event, there were runners on second and third, and they both came home to score on a Jed Lowrie single. 

Addison Reed was then brought in for what seemed to be his second multiple inning save in three days. 

Reed first walked Davis on a 3-2 pitch he swore was a strike. Key word here is swore as he began to get into a war of words with Home Plate Umpire Dan Iassogna, who was chomping at the bit for a fight. Or as Keith Hernandez put it:

Following another Semien RBI single, the A’s were within 7-5 with the bases loaded and one out. With all the left-handed batters due up for the A’s, Terry Collins took the ball from an angry Reed and gave it to a struggling Jerry Blevins. 

Blevins has allowed 25 inherited runners to score, which is the fifth worst in the majors. Naturally, he would get out of that jam unscathed, and he’d pitch a perfect ninth for his first save of the season. 

It was another bizarre game for the Mets on another bizarre day. At least the Mets came up on top. 

Game Notes: Hansel Robles got the win after pitching a scoreless sixth. Cespedes was 3-4 with a run and a double against his former/future team. 

* The headline was a joke. Please lighten up about Cespedes’ comments. 

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