NEW YORK _ Jose Reyes slid into second base, clapped his hands hard, then implored the rest of the Mets to fight back. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" he yelled, his words blurring into the cheers of a crowd that sat through eight innings of frustration.
Soon, he'd take third on a flyout, and then dash home on a wild pitch to score the tying run. Covering the plate, pitcher A.J. Ramos lost his balance and fell. The pitcher's right elbow crashed into Reyes' neck, leaving him on his back in the dirt, wincing from the pain.
Reyes had sacrificed his body to breathe life into the Mets. Two innings later, he stood at the front of the jubilant pack at home plate, one of the first to greet Yoenis Cespedes when his walk-off solo shot in the 10th powered the Mets to a 2-1 win over the Marlins on Monday night.
Reyes wound up with a pail of bubble gum on his head, which he passed on like a crown to Cespedes, whose swing ended a tense evening at Citi Field.
The Marlins snapped a scoreless tie in the eighth. It came with the help of a misplay by Cespedes in leftfield. After Ichiro Suzuki doubled, Xavier Scruggs smoked a liner to left, rolling past Cespedes because he took an odd route.
But Reyes answered immediately. He led off with a double to right field, where Suzuki stumbled in pursuit of the ball. With that, the Mets set the stage the theatrics from Cespedes.
The Mets entered play 2 { games back of the Cardinals, who control the final wild-card spot in the National League. The Pirates were out by a half game followed by the Marlins at 1 { games back.
With a tense postseason chase as the backdrop, the Mets again took the field as a shell of themselves. Second baseman Neil Walker missed his second straight game with tightness in his back. A sore left knee limited shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to a pinch-hitting appearance.
Even though the Mets got Cespedes back after missing a game with a sore right quad, manager Terry Collins benched a healthy Jay Bruce for the second time in three days because of his massive slump since arriving at the trade deadline.
On the mound, the Mets faced a mismatch, with the Marlins sending their fearsome ace Jose Fernandez to the hill against the inexperienced Rafael Montero.
Fernandez tossed six scoreless innings, which came as little surprise. But in his first big league appearance since April, Montero threw five shutout innings.
They were hardly without their blemishes. Though he allowed only three hits, he walked six, fending off trouble for much of his outing. Nevertheless, the Marlins made nothing out of the free passes.
Montero, 25, has spent much of the last year falling off the radar. By July, he struggled badly enough to warrant a demotion from Triple-A Las Vegas to Double-Binghamton. Facing lesser competition, the righty posted a 1.70 ERA in eight starts.
Necessity opened the door for another chance. Jacob deGrom got shelled in consecutive starts, leading the Mets to believe he needed an in-season break. The Mets had already pressed Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman into service, confining their choices to Montero and Gabriel Ynoa, who allowed four runs in three relief appearances earlier this month.
So Montero got the nod, even though his last major league action came during two relief appearances in April. He allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings before being sent back to Las Vegas.
Montero alternated between attacking the strike zone and nibbling at the corners. At times, he simply didn't get the benefit of the doubt on pitches on the black. Thanks to the walks, he took the scenic route to five scoreless innings.
But Montero kept his team in the game, and the weary Mets couldn't have expected a better result.
