NEW YORK — What the Mets have been able to do with 16 players on the injured list has shifted from surprising to flat-out bonkers.
In their latest how-did-that-just-happen victory using another makeshift lineup, the Mets recorded their first five-homer game of the season to rout the Braves, 13-2, on Saturday night at Citi Field. The Mets are enjoying a four-game winning streak on a 25-20 record in first place in the National League East.
Francisco Lindor, Jonathan Villar, James McCann, Billy McKinney, and Brandon Drury all left the yard to help the Mets put up their season-high in runs. The Mets entered the night with the second-lowest runs per game in MLB and badly needed a feel-good game like Saturday, which featured a seven-run rally in the sixth inning and saw all of their starting nine reach base via a hit or walk. Cameron Maybin snapped his 0-for-27 hitless streak and collected his first hit as a Met on a slow dribbler as part of the rally.
“I think we have a chance tonight,” Mets owner Steve Cohen quipped on Twitter, while his club held a 10-run lead.
Despite all the run-scoring hysteria, no Met played a better game than McCann. Playing in just his fourth-career game as a first baseman, McCann enjoyed a 4-for-5 day at the plate with two singles, a double and a home run to fall a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He showed off on a pair of solid scoops at the infield corner to cap off his breakout night.
Taijuan Walker kept Atlanta off the board in his first start since coming off the injured list with left side tightness. The right-hander hurled five scoreless innings and struck out eight, including two whiffs against reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman, in his dominant return to the rotation. Notably, Walker continued his recent pattern of refusing to swing the bat in his two at-bats on Saturday.
Walker’s 1.84 ERA is the second lowest in Mets franchise history through his first nine starts with the club. Al Leiter owned the lowest with a 1.49 ERA in his first nine starts with the Mets in 1998.
Ten of the Mets’ 16 wounded players hit the IL this month and, somehow, the team has amassed 16 wins over that stretch using fifth-string outfielders, rookies making impacts and unlikely heroes stepping up and carrying the team.
McKinney, the newest member of the Mets via a fresh trade with the Brewers just three days ago, was one of many hitters who contributed Saturday night. He slammed a 383-foot three-run shot to the second deck in right field in the sixth inning to put the Mets on top 11-1. Lindor sparked the rally with a bunt single right after Villar’s fifth homer of the season.
