MIAMI _ Robinson Cano has received fair criticism for underperforming this year. He has not hit for power and he has not hit well on the road.
At least for a moment, he changed that on Saturday.
With the Mets and Marlins tied in the eighth inning, Cano blasted a two-run home run to right field off Nick Anderson that propelled the Mets to a 4-2 victory. It marked Cano's first homer since June 17, and just his fifth all season.
Mets manager Mickey Callaway moved Cano _ who has primarily hit third in his career _ down to fifth in the lineup. He did not hide from the real reason behind that decision, which is Cano's road struggles.
Cano, a career .303 hitter, entered Saturday batting .240. That's bad, but it looks even worse when you consider that he's hit .318 at home this season.
On the road: .196/226/.335. That said, four of his five home runs have come away from Citi Field.
The latest was rather important.
The Mets weren't able to begin the second half with a win on Friday, and it seemed they could stumble again on Saturday. Noah Syndergaard threw seven innings and retired the final 11 batters of his outing, but his offense hardly gave him any support.
That is, until Cano provided the bullpen with a cushion. Seth Lugo pitched a clean eighth and Edwin Diaz closed out the Marlins in the ninth, ensuring that Cano's rare blast would not be wasted.
To put into perspective Cano's lack of power this season, the Mets' pitching staff also has five home runs in 2019.
Cano's lowest homer total in a season came last year, when he only hit 10. But he did so in 80 games because he served a suspension after testing positive for PEDs. He just played his 67th game of this season, and he looks nothing like the guy the Mets expected to get when they acquired he and Diaz in a blockbuster trade over the offseason.
Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has taken heat for making that trade because he gave up two valuable prospects in Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn. Diaz and Cano have both struggled this season.
According to Statcast, Cano's current strikeout rate of 17.6% would be the highest of his career. His walks are also down (his 5.4% walk rate would be the lowest of his career).
Callaway, multiple times, said he believed Cano would snap out of his funk and trend upward because he was hitting the ball hard. According to Statcast, his hard-hit rate is 44.7 percent, just a hair under his career average. So, he's hitting balls as hard as he ever has, but the strikeouts may be doing him in and the walks do not help.
In that eighth inning, he probably felt some relief when he saw the ball fly into the seats.
Perhaps this can propel Cano forward into some success. Maybe it was just one play.
Regardless, the Mets will take it because wins have not come easy for them this season.
