Remembering Mets History: (2015) Mets Complete Seven Game Win Streak Take 2 1/2 Game Lead In NL East
As mentioned before, the arrival of Yoenis Cespedes who became the hottest hitter on the planet helped. As did the arrivals of Micahel Conforto, Steven Matz, Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard & Addison Reed through out August.
On Friday August 3rd the Mets went to South Florida for a three game sweep of the Miami Marlins. It began with a 12-1 romp the first night, as Bartolo Colon allowed just one run in eight innings of work striking out five to best his record to 10-10. Big Sexy even got a hit on the night.In the 1st inning, young Michael Conforto blasted his first career HR, a three run shot off Tom Koehler putting the Mets ahead. It was an exciting moment for Conforto, it was just his seventh career game & who two weeks ago was in the minor leagues.
In the 8th the Mets took the game with four runs on five hits. Lucas Duda & Travis d'Arnaud singled. Pinch hitter Eric Campbell delivered an RBI base hit to put the Mets ahead 2-1. Juan Lagares then tripled to bring in two more runs & The GrandyMan doubled to bring in Lagares & make it 5-1. The Mets had now won five straight.
The Mets ate up Phelps scoring seven runs on him with eight hits in just 4.1 innings. In the 3rd, Granderson & Murphy got aboard. Yoenis Cespedes continued his hot hitting (actually he was just getting started) singled to bring in Granderson. Lucas Duda followed with a double bringing in Murph & Cespedes. Michael Conforto closed out the inning with a sac fly RBI.
In the Mets 5th Juan Uribe blasted a three run HR, his second as a New York Met. Overall it was Uribe's 10th HR of the season. Lucas Duda added an RBI sac fly to make it 8-0.Matt Harvey had a great night himself on the mound, he would pitch seven innings of two hit shut out baseball striking out six walking no one. Harvey got to 10-7 on the year, as his ERA got down to 2.76, one of the leagues best behind Jacob deGrom.
Although the Mets had an 8-0 lead, the bullpen made it a close ball game. After Bobby Parnell faced two batters, walking one Eric O'Flaherty came in & was beat up for four runs. Hansel Robles allowed another two runs to make it a close 8-6 game. Familia came on to save his 29th game of the year.
The Mets had now won six straight & were up in first place by two games. It was up the state of Florida to the Gulf side to play The Tampa Rays.Friday August 7th 2015: Terry Collins Mets now 59-50 faced off against Kevin Cash's Rays (54-56). Jacob deGrom went up against Jake Odorizzi. Each team was to have five pitchers come into the game, with the decision being left to the bullpens.
deGrom gave up a solo HR to veteran Grady Sizemore but then Mets veteran Juan Uribe answered with his second HR in as many games to tie it. In the Rays 7th, future Met James Loney hit a HR off deGrom to put the Rays ahead 2-1.In the Mets 8th, Daniel Murphy hit his 8th HR of the year to once again tie up the game. In the bottom of the inning Evan Longoria hit his 14th HR of the year, a solo shot off Tyler Clippard putting the Rays up again.
But in the 9th, the Mets faced Brad Boxberger & things started out wild. Lucas Duda reached on Boxbergers error & advanced on a wild pitch. Michael Conforto then doubled to tie it up.
Travis d'Arnaud singled & Wilmer Flores singled as well to bring in Conforto in what was to be the Mets game winning run. Familia saved with his 30th save of the season. The Mets were on a roll, a seven game win streak put them at 2 1/2 games up in first place. They would never loose their lead in the NL East taking the division & getting to the World Series.