But that extra buffer meant skipping what would have been his scheduled start Monday against Jose Fernandez and the Marlins, one of the teams ahead of the Mets in the wild-card chase.
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“I think everybody had something to do with that win tonight”, he said. The Marlins are a game ahead of NY and 1 1/2 shy of St. Louis but dropped two of three to the San Diego Padres over the weekend and went 2-4 on the just-completed homestand. If he can’t go, Cashner would likely be placed on the DL and replaced by Nicolino again, manager Don Mattingly said.
That rang true for the Mets last night when they rallied for a 2-1 walk-off win in 10 innings over the Marlins in a game that pitted Rafael Montero against Jose Fernandez.
“We did not know we were short until about 10 minutes ago”, Collins said approximately three hours before the game. “So as we look down the road, the one thing we thought is that, ‘Hey, look, if we do it, are we going to get benefit of it afterward?’ And the answer to that, I think, is going to be, ‘Yes, we are going to see the benefits'”.
Rookie left-hander Josh Smoker (1-0) struck out two in a flawless inning against the meat of Miami’s struggling lineup for his first major league win.
Cespedes sat out Sunday after his nagging right quadriceps flared up.
Rockies 8, Dodgers 1: Jon Gray pitched six scoreless innings, and Nick Hundley hit a two-run homer for Colorado. Reyes doubled to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and moved over to third base after a fly out by Alejandro De Aza.
NY and Miami are now tied in the standings. Reyes scored with a headfirst dive as Ramos crashed into him hard in the dirt while going down to his knees and reaching for Realmuto’s throw. It is unclear when the starting middle infielders will be back in the field and because Walker and Cabrera are both dealing with injuries that have recently kept them out of action, Manager Terry Collins had additional concern about the potential severity of seemingly day-to-day ailments.
Reyes rolled around in discomfort for several seconds, dyed-orange hair visible to all after his helmet popped off.
The 42-year-old Suzuki had two hits, increasing his career total to 3,011 and passing Hall of Famer Wade Boggs for 27th place in major league history. The Marlins recalled RHP Austin Brice from Triple-A New Orleans and optioned LHP Justin Nicolino to the same affiliate. Matz says he believes he will return to the mound this season.
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Cespedes’ blast meant no worries for the Mets and their fans late Monday, but the team is still nine games back of the Nationals in the NL East and 2.5 games out of the second wild-card spot. He lined out in a pinch-hitting role, but Collins said he hasn’t given up on the Mets’ biggest trade of the season still paying off and planned on putting Bruce back in the lineup Tuesday. In his 26 starts and 9-9 record this year, Koehler has put up a 3.85 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP in 145 innings. Lugo tossed five shutout innings last Thursday in St. Louis to earn his first major league win.
