New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com53LEFT IN:Amed Rosario, pressed into action in left field for the final three innings,
makesa catch. SNYLEFTIN:AmedRosario,pressed
makesacatch.K
ANSAS CITY, Mo.—Baseba ll isa
crazygame. Especially when you play
a terribleteam.
The bottom of the seventh began with
shortstop Amed Rosario
in left fieldfor theMets, and
although that wa sanervous
momentfor Ro sario, wh o ha d
ne ve r pl aye d ou tf ield ina game
before in his life, theMets were
not nervous.
That’s because they we re
comfortably numb, having
scored six runs in thetop of the
inningto turna one-run deficit intoafive-run lead
as theMets went onto an 11-5 victoryover the
wretchedRo ya ls onSu nda y at KauffmanStad ium,
takingtwo of three in the series.
A sweep wo uld have been nice, bu t af te r losing
the first game Friday night theMets willtake what
they canget, knowing they return
to the major league portionof their
scheduleco me Tu esday at Citi Fi eld
against the Indians.
This wasagift win much like all
thoseYa nkees wins against the Ori-
oles.
“Rosey is just ridiculously athlet-
ic,’’said sluggerPete Alonso, who
set the NLro okiereco rd fo r home
runs with his 40th in the ninth
inning. “Today in a panic situation,
when we needed him out there, I thought he did
we ll. So ifweev er have a pa nic situation like
that again, he’s goingto do the job.’’
At this stage, every win is huge, and this vic-
tory embodied theMets’ NextManUp approach.
Rosario was forced into left becauseJ.D. Davis,
dealing witha calf issue, came out of the game for
a pinch runner in thetop of the inning.
Davis came in asa pinch hitter in thetop of the
seventhfor Aaron Altherr and did his job, driv-
inga singlepast theRoyals drawn-in infield that
scoredTodd Frazierto tie thegame at 4-4.
Davis made hisway to third on TomasNido’s
double andrepresented thego-ahead run.Ruben
Tejada came into pinch run and scored along
withNido onRosario’s single up the middlepast
a drawn-in infield.
That was the second time theRoyals brought
their infield in during the seventh and the sec-ond time theMets burned them.The winning
rally started because theRoya ls did not have a
second basemanat that position againstFrazier
and he droppeda fly ball in short right against
the shift foradouble.
In the bottom of the inning,
Tejada went to short andRosa-
rio kept runningto left field.
Rosa rio caught WhitMe r-
rifield’s fly ball in the seventh
andfieldeda singleto left as
well. There had beentalk early
thisyear that Rosariocould
wind upa centerfielder, that
talk is dead now because he isplaying shortstop
so well, but in these lean injury times withJeff
McNeil out witha hamstring injury, theMets
have to find a way tofield all nine positions
throughout thegame.
“A t firstIwasalittle nervous, but onceIstarted
to loosen upI was getting the hang
of it out and once theball was hit to
me,Iwas comfortable,’’ said Rosario,
wh o had three more hits on the day,
raising hisaverage to .291, and three
more RBIs. “You can just imagine,
I never played left field inmylife
before so I was kindof nervous.’’
Rosario enjoyed helping out any
way he could, but joked on thisswel-
tering day it isa lot longer runto and
from left field.
“It was hot out there,’’ hesaid througha transla-
tor. “I was already tired.’’
Ro sario b ecomes theMe ts ninth left fi elder this
season. When the seventh inning ended, hewas
greeted with high-fives in the happy Mets dugout.
Rosario cameto bat in the eighth and doubled in
a runpast first base, making him1-for-1 as an out-
fielder.
Nine left fielders could be the answer to the
question:How many Mets does ittake to replace
Yo enisCespedes?
“Diversity helps,’’ Mickey Callaway said. “Some-
timesyo u ha ve to do what ev er yo u have to do to
wina game and that is what we did tonight.’’
The Mets moved to 64-60,two games out in
the wild-card race.After an off day, it’s the Indi-
anscontinuing their stay in New Yo rk City. Now
it gets real.
[email protected]Kevin KernanKeKeKevinvinKernan
UP NEXT
VS. INDIANS
TUESDAY—7:10 , SNY
WEDNESDAY—7:10, SNY
THURSDAY—7:10 , SNY
All game s on WCBS (880 AM)By KEVIN KERNANKANSAS CITY, Mo.—This
was Redemption SongSu nday
for the Mets bullpen.
Je urys Familia, showing much
bet ter co mposure andco ntrol,
pitched the sixth and seventh
innings to get the winwhile
Edwin Diaz came onfo raclean
ninth inning andregisteredtwo
strikeouts in theMets’ 11-5 vic-
tory over theRoyals at Kauff-
manStadium.
The Mets will needcontin-
uedcontributions from both
relievers if they want to come
awaywitha wild card.
“Familia dida gr eatjob , six
big outsfor us,’’ Mickey Calla-
way said, “some ina tightgame.
And thenwent back out,tough
spotto go back out in, probably
sat for 20 minutes.’’
Afterastrong sixth inning,
Familiasat foralong time as the
Mets put up six runs in thetop
of the seventh.
“We took him in the cage and
had him throw a few,’’ Callaway
said of Familia,who got the win
to improveto 4-1.
He let upa run in the seventh,
but for his two innings of work
he threw30 pitches with 20
strikes.
Familia and Diaz have been
working closely with pitchingcoach PhilRegan on cleaning
up theircontrol issues, with
Diaz alsoworkingto fix his
erratic slider.
“That was the bestI have ever
seen his slider since he has been
here,’’ Callaway said of Diaz. “It
was 91-92, two to three [mph]
harder and it had depth.That
wasabig outingfor himtoday, a
step in the right direction.’’
Diaz,who followedaperfect
inning from Brad Brach,told
The Post he has beenworking
on his slidergrip and isreally
tryingto st ay behind theba se-
ball.
“I’ve been spendinga lot of
timewo rk ing onmyslider and
I really feel good about it now,’’
Diazsaid.
Familiasaidhis approach
now is better froma mental
standpoint.
“If I give up a hit ora home
runI am trying hard to justget
the nextbatter, notworry what
happened in thepast,’’Familia
told The Post.
The Mets were trailing 4- 3
when Familia came in and he
worked a1-2-3 inning in the
sixth.
Before Sunday, Diaz had
allowed seven runs in his last
eight outings, so any signof
improvement isa we lcome
sightfor Callaway.Familia& Diaz showing
signs of coming around
PETEOFSTRENGTH:PeteAlonsocelebrateshisNL
rookierecord40thhomeroftheseasonwithWilson
Ramos.AlonsoisnowoneHRfrommatchingthe
franchisesingle-seasonrecord. USATODAYSports
Rosario’s
emergency
role in left
typifies
this team
this season