So after Cabrera convinced Collins to start him, despite fouling a ball off the inside of his right knee Friday, the manager ended up no longer needing his services, anyway.
Advertisement
New York’s NL wild-card lead was cut to a half-game over St. Louis and San Francisco, which played at San Diego later Saturday. Matz has never made a relief appearance in the major leagues. Terry Collins indicated that he intends to start Conforto again Saturday as Jay Bruce gets further buried on the bench. “But where we are, I’m not sure where we’re going to get him in”. “It’s something you always dream of as a kid”. Philadelphia’s Maikel Franco has also gotten in on the fun, blasting a homer in each contest of the series while recording multi-hit performances and a run scored in each of his last three games.
Renewed pain in the lefty’s shoulder following a bullpen session earlier this week forced the Mets to scratch Matz from his scheduled start Friday. The relievers tossed six innings in Thursday’s 11-inning affair, and seven more Friday after Ynoa threw just two innings in the 10-5 win. Gilmartin left having allowed five runs in two-thirds of an inning. Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud stepped to the plate as the potential winning run in the ninth inning before popping out and grounding out, respectively.
The Mets got their biggest comeback victory when they overcame an eight-run deficit to win 11-8 at Houston on September 2, 1972. The Mets almost pulled off the biggest comeback in team history after manager Terry Collins pulled his three best players – Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes – with the Phillies ahead 10-0 after four innings. Just like that, an all-important game was rendered inconsequential – or at least less significant than the health of the more banged-up Mets.
The Phillies sent 11 to the plate in the first, making more work for New York’s exhausted bullpen. Once the Mets went ahead 10-5 in the eighth inning, Cabrera was pulled by manager Terry Collins, who said Cabrera might sit out Saturday’s game. “Didn’t, but he was certainly in the situation to do that”. The Mets are hoping that the right-hander will be ready to start on Monday or Tuesday, so he might still be able to make two starts the rest of the way. INF Wilmer Flores (wrist) is still unable to hit.
“I absolutely tip my hat to the job those young kids did tonight”, Collins said. Left-hander Sean Gilmartin will start in Syndergaard’s place, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.
Advertisement
Collins added that the Mets could skip Bartolo Colon or Syndergaard the final weekend of the regular season at Philadelphia and use one of those pitchers in the wild-card game if the Mets are fortunate to clinch early. Although it was expected that he would be shut down along with Vince Velasquez, Thompson is instead looking for his third straight win.
