Cespedes blasted a walk off homer over the Great Wall of Flushing to help the Mets (67-64) walk off with a 2-1 win over the Marlins (67-64).
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Jose Reyes responded with a hit to right to lead off the bottom of the inning and advanced to second when Suzuki’s mishandling turned it into a double.
NY has won six of eight but missed out on a chance to sweep the struggling Philadelphia Phillies when they suffered a 5-1 setback on Sunday. However, the Mets made a decision to give him extra rest after struggling during two consecutive starts.
Montero has always been an enigma since being labeled a top prospect in the farm system, but as the results haven’t matched the hype. With ace Jose Fernandez set to oppose Rafael Montero in the pitching matchup, the over/under now sits at 7 runs for tonight’s game.
This is an important series for the Marlins in terms of the Wild Card race.
Montero struggled with his command all night, but a struggling Marlins lineup didn’t make him pay.
Cespedes singled to left after Reyes scored and two batters later so did Curtis Granderson, but Wilmer Flores bounced to short to end the inning. Montero walked six but allowed only two hits and struck out three.
The contest would remain tied until the bottom of the 10th inning, when Cespedes stepped to the plate against Marlins’ reliever Nick Wittgren.
Montero threw just 54 of his 100 pitches for strikes, but it didn’t burn him.
The 25-year-old made two appearances out of the NY bullpen earlier in the season but spent most of the campaign between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined to go 8-8 with a 5.15 ERA in 24 starts.
The Mets needed a strong outing from Montero because of three missing three starters.
Walker missed his second straight game with the stiff back, and Collins indicated the red-hot second baseman may miss tonight as well.
Banged-up middle infielders Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera were out of the starting lineup, although Cespedes returned in a big way after sitting out Sunday’s loss to the Phillies because of his troublesome right quad. Walker has dealt with this back stiffness throughout his career and usually needs a few days before returning.
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Double-A call-up and almost forgotten prospect Rafael Montero tossed five shutout innings for the Mets (67-64) in his first major-league start since April 28 of last season, matching hard-earned zeroes with Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.
