In a 7-1 victory against the New York Yankees at Citi Field on Tuesday, Terry Collins pinch hit for red hot Alejandro de Aza with Yoenis Céspedes in the seventh inning with Joe Girardi opting to left-hander Richard Bleier.
Céspedes hit a 110 mph bullet at Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro which ate him up and failed to turn a double play or get any outs on the play at all. Céspedes beat out the throw after it was knocked down and failed to be handled cleanly by Castro. Céspedes running today was probably the best he has looked yet with his quad injury but was ran for by Curtis Granderson.
In his postgame press conference Terry Collins said that he wanted to get Céspedes one at-bat. Collins also closely watched Céspedes run down the line and said he has looked his best so far while running, but no doubt Céspedes was not going full speed and was evident the injury has not gone away.
The Mets schedule works out well for them as they have five straight road games against AL teams, and they plan to use Céspedes as the DH for that stretch. Céspedes will also make his return to Detroit for the first time since he was dealt at the 2015 trade deadline to the Mets. After the game, Céspedes did mention that the more time he sits out, the better it feels, which makes me question why they did not place him on the 15-day DL over the ASG break in the first place.
If that decision was made, Yoenis could be fully healthy at this point, and over that stretch he did not help the Mets win any games. Although he did hit a clutch home run against the Cardinals which at the time gave them the lead, but Jeurys Familia’s 52 save streak was snapped as he blew that save.
Céspedes will presumably be in the lineup, batting third with Bruce to follow in the third game of the Subway Series on Wednesday. The pitching matchup is Steven Matz (8-7, 3.35 ERA) vs. Chad Green (1-2, 4.56 ERA.)
