Mets Overcome Bartolo Colon’s Injury, Edge Royals 2-1 In World Series Rematch

Although Bartolo Colon left early with a right thumb injury, the New York Mets were able to overcome this and defeated the Kansas City Royals 2-1 at Citi Field on Tuesday night in a World Series rematch.

Mets Overcome Bartolo Colon’s Injury, Edge Royals 2-1

Yoenis Cespedes hit his 18th home run and Asdrubal Cabrera also scored for the Mets, who had lost three straight and six of eight. Cabrera and Cespedes contributed with solo homers in the first and fourth, respectively, both off Kansas City starter Ian Kennedy. 

Colon exited after just four pitches when the first batter he faced, Royals second baseman/left fielder Whit Merrifield, led off the game by firing a line drive off the 43-year-old Dominican pitcher’s right thumb.

Right-hander Hansel Robles stepped up to replace Colon. Robles and the rest of the Mets’ bullpen held strong for 8 2/3 innings, holding the Royals to six hits to help New York win the two-game series opener.

Robles proved to be a great replacement for Colon. The 25-year-old allowed just one earned run over a career-high 3 2/3 innings. He also gave up five hits. Robles’ longest previous outing came on Aug. 15, 2015, when he threw three innings in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“Those are the kinds of games that I really believe you should grow from,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “Our bullpen had a tough weekend, and it came back tonight, certainly, in an unexpected situation. … Everybody that came in the game pitched great.”

X-Rays on Colon’s thumb came back negative.

Kennedy (5-6) was pulled after allowing two runs in four innings.

“He wasn’t exceptionally sharp for me,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of his starting right-hander. “He had a lot of flyball outs … and it was one of those situations where the ball was carrying good tonight.”

Kansas City scored on a fifth-inning single from Brett Eibner, but was unable to muster any more offense.

Robles allowed the first three batters to reach base in the inning, including Eibner’s scoring single.

“I hadn’t pitched this long in the big leagues yet,” the young Dominican said through an interpreter. “I was a little tired, but not too exhausted.”

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who played his first game since April 25, went 0-for-3 and praised Robles for his performance.

“Robles pitched his heart out today,” d’Arnaud said. “He went into the fifth inning. When was the last time he threw that many pitches?

The two teams will face off again for the series finale on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field. Right-hander Noah Syndergaard (7-2, 1.91 ERA) will start for the Mets (37-32, 2nd in NL East) a day later than expected. Lefty Danny Duffy (2-1, 3.17 ERA) will start for the Royals (38-32, 2nd in AL Central).

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 21: Bartolo Colon #40 of the New York Mets pitches in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field on June 21, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)