The Mets announced Cabrera had a sore left knee a few minutes later.
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The Mets continued their run of good baseball by again toying with the Phillies, claiming a 12-1 win Saturday night at Citi Field.
“I talked to him this morning, and he needs a lot of time to get it stretched and loosened up”, Collins said, adding that Walker was available to pinch hit.
All this production came without Jay Bruce in the lineup, with the struggling right fielder receiving a day off due to his struggles and his right calf flaring up Friday.
Cespedes was out earlier this month with his quadriceps injury.
“His leg tightened up on him last night”, Collins said of Cespedes before Sunday’s first pitch.
The Phillies took their first lead of the series when Freddy Galvis homered with one out in the third for their first hit of the game. The Mets’ shortstop laid down a bunt back to pitcher Vince Velasquez, who made a poor throw that drew Joseph off the bag and into Cabrera’s left wrist. Cabrera appeared to twist awkwardly after the collision.
However, he remained in the game. He moved to second on Kelly Johnson’s single to right but was moving gingerly. After the play, Cabrera was immediately removed from the game and escorted in to the dugout by Mets’ trainer Ray Ramirez.
Cabrera missed time with a left knee injury earlier this month and returned from the disabled list August 19. The Mets produced just one base runner the rest of the way, a Wilmer Flores single, meekly ceding the final game of the series.
The switch-hitting shortstop became the first Mets player to go deep from both sides in one game since Carlos Beltran at Colorado on May 12, 2011.
“It looks like a completely different team”, Collins said. San Francisco scored six runs on two-out hits and benefited from three Atlanta errors.
NY scratched out a mere four singles over the final eight innings.
Gsellman (1-0, 0.00) taking the spot of the injured Jon Niese, who suffered a knee injury Tuesday against St. Louis, and will be making his first major league start. Manager Pete Mackanin said Ellis, who caught two bullpen sessions on Saturday, would make his Phillies debut by starting behind the plate on Sunday. “It was great to see him get that big hit, for himself and for the team”.
The rookie left to a nice round of applause from the crowd of 32,033, and gave way to Hansel Robles. Jeremy Hellickson allowed five runs in four innings to bring the rotation’s ERA to 7.26 in 22 August games. He was trailing 2-1 when Neil Walker worked a nine-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs in the fifth.
The 43-year-old Colon (12-7) carried a two-hitter into the eighth and took over the team lead in wins as NY began a pivotal 10-game homestand by winning for the fifth time in its past six. In eight games since his return, he has batted.355 with 4 home runs and 8 RBIs.
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RHP Rafael Montero (0-0, 11.57 ERA) has the hard task of facing All-Star RHP Jose Fernandez (13-7, 2.91) in his first big league start of the season as the Mets begin an important four-game series with Miami at Citi Field. And an old friend, righthander Rafael Montero comes up from Double-A Binghamton to try and revive his big league career. He’s 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his four career starts against them.
