Flores Does His Best Stanton Impersonation 

When the Mets signed Jose Reyes to predominantly play third base in David Wright‘s prolonged absence, many believed this would mean Wilmer Flores would find himself back on the bench. Today, Flores would have something to say about that. 

In the second inning, Flores hit a bomb to left centerfield off Justin Nicolino to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Flores hit another one to left center to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. 

There was some excitement when he came up with the bases loaded in the fifth, and he worked a 3-1 count. Unfortunately, he hit a hot shot right at Don Kelly, who started the 5-5-3 double play. However, this double play wouldn’t mar what was a 2-4 day with the two solo homers. 

Between Flores’ two homers and Curtis Granderson‘s two RBI single in the fourth, Jacob deGrom had all the run support he needed in his last start before the All Star Break. 

For most of the afternoon, deGrom spent his time in and out of trouble. He was twice aided by timely double plays that prevented a run from scoring. Overall, it was a very good start that saw deGrom throw 117 pitches over seven innings allowing six hits, two earned, and two walks with seven strikeouts. The two runs were courtesy of Giancarlo Stanton. 

Stanton killed the Mets like he did this entire three game series. He tied a major league record by having homers in his last four at bats, which included his first two at bats today. In total, eight of his last ten hits at Citi Field have been homers. He’s got three of the four longest homers at Citi Field. By the way, Yoenis Cespedes has the other:

Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia made sure of that Stanton wouldn’t cause any more damage. Reed struck out the last batter in the eighth to ensure Stanton couldn’t tie the game with another homer.  Familia struck him out leading off the ninth en route to his 30th consecutive save to start the season.  

The Mets 4-2 win moved them to 2.5 games up on the Marlins in the East and the Wild Card. The Mets will now look to make similar headway against the Nationals this weekend. 

Game Notes: Reyes started at shortstop because Asdrubal Cabrera was up late last night due to a family illness. Reyes  was 2-4 with two doubles and a run. Flores was shifted from first to third, and James Loney got the start. The Marlins challenged a call in the fifth, but the double play ruling on the field was upheld. 

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