Yoenis Cespedes came over from the Detroit Tigers, bringing with him an aura of confidence and swagger the Mets had not had in some time.
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With the win, the Mets (59-50) lead the Washington Nationals by two and half video games.
“Great way to start the game, especially against a guy that doesn’t tend to give up a lot of runs”, Granderson said. Granderson has 34 in his career. He gave up a leadoff double to John Jason and then a two-run homer to Grady Sizemore. “The offense did their part and I wasn’t able to uphold my part of the bargain”. He needed 38 pitches to get out of the first inning and lasted four in total, giving up five runs, eight hits and striking out six. After being staked to a three-run lead in the first inning, the 22-year-old rookie allowed four runs in the bottom of the frame, including Kevin Kiermaier’s two-run single.
Longoria beat out the decisive hit when Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada hesitated slightly before throwing.
Tyler Clippard (1-0) was the victor, and Jeurys Familia got three outs for his 30th save. This will be only the third time these teams have met in the last 14 years, with the Mets leading the series with an 11-7 mark. I don’t know how many. Although only surrendering two earned runs on 6 hits, the young righty was missing pitch locations all night.
“We had chances to win this one, but we couldn’t pull it out in the end”, Granderson said.
Manager Kevin Cash sounded somewhat concerned after the game. “They were outstanding. We don’t expect anything less”. The six-hit first was the most hits the Rays have recorded in an inning since June 29, 2014, at Baltimore, when they strung together seven hits in a seven-run sixth inning. “I can’t say enough”.
MISCELLANY: Saturday’s crowd of 31,042 marked the first Trop sellout since opening day. He fouled a ball off his right ankle late in the game and will likely be the designated hitter in Sunday’s series finale.
With Lucas Duda on second base, Michael Conforto delivered an extremely clutch double to drive in Duda and tie the game. He should be back Monday.
Rays: SS Asdrubal Cabrera started and had two hits after he was hit on the ear by a thrown ball Wednesday…. Kiermaier jammed his thumb while sliding into second base but finished the game. Syndergaard will look to bounce back next week against the Rockies. He had an 18-inning stretch of no walks that ended in the third….
After Longoria’s 13th homer of the season put the Rays forward, the Mets rallied within the ninth off Boxberger. It was his 17th career multihomer game. The game gets underway at 6:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 8 and will air on SUN and WPIX.
Syndergaard threw 98 pitches and tied his season-low by lasting four innings for the third time.
Lester (7-8) gave up two runs and six hits over seven innings.
The Mets sent minor league RHP Dawrin Frias to Oakland as the player to be named in Tuesday’s trade that brought LHP Eric O’Flaherty to New York.
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His 5.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best in franchise history among Mets rookies with at least 10 starts.
