The New York Mets (4-5) defeated the Cleveland Indians (4-4) tonight at Progressive Field by the final score of 6-5 . For a full boxscore recap follow the link below…

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_04_15_nynmlb_clemlb_1#game=2016_04_15_nynmlb_clemlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup

Game Notes:

• Bartolo Colon got the win tonight throwing 5.1 innings and only allowing 2 runs on 8 hits. He struck out 5 while only walking 1. With tonight’s win Colon is now tied with Pedro Martinez for second place on the all-time Dominican-born pitcher’s win list with 219.
• Michael Conforto was 2-5 with a solo home run.
• Alejandro De Aza was 3-4 with a solo home run and a double.
• Yoenis Cespedes was 3-5 with a 2-run home run. He was a triple shy of the cycle.
• Neil Walker was 2-5 with a 2-run home run. It was his first home run hitting from the right side of the plate since 2014.
• Jeurys Familia got his 3rd save of the season by getting a tough out in the bottom of the 9th. Familia allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 0.1 of an inning.
• The Mets hit a season high 4 home runs tonight but were 0-10 with runners in scoring position.

Well that was about as close of a game the Mets could have made it. In the bottom of the 9th with the Mets leading 6-2, Addison Reed gave up a base hit to Jason Kipnis, recorded 2 outs, and then allowed a 2-run home run to Carlos Santana. Terry Collins went to Familia after the Indians cut the Mets lead to 2 and it became a save opportunity. Familia then allowed a hard hit single to Yan Gomes, threw a wild pitch to Marlon Byrd which allowed Gomes to advance to second base, and a bloop single to Marlon Byrd that drove in Gomes. Familia then walked Juan Uribe which put him in a bind with runners on first and second base, and two outs. After a Dan Warthen meeting to the mound Familia buckled down and retired Indians outfielder Jose Ramirez to end the game. It sure was an intense inning but it was a great display of Familia’s character who has now pitched 4 games in a row, to come in and finish this game despite how difficult that inning proved to be. 

The Mets bats came alive tonight in Cleveland and one can only wonder if this 9-game roadtrip was just what the Mets needed to get away from New York, with all of the negative energy being spewed due to their slow start. The Mets were great with the long ball tonight slugging four home runs but still struggled with runners in scoring position going 0-10 despite them having 14 hits. That is an area the Mets will need to continue to improve on as the month goes on. The only questionable move of the night was third base coach Tim Teufel sending Alejandro De Aza from first to home with no outs in the top of the 8th, on a base hit that rolled towards the center field gap.  It cost the Mets a run that inning as De Aza could’ve scored from third on a passed ball later that inning during Michael Conforto’s at-bat. 

All in all a solid win tonight for the Mets, despite the scary 9th inning, and it’s great to see the bats come alive especially facing arguably the best starting rotation in the American League. The Mets will face a rusty Josh Tomlin tomorrow afternoon  who has not pitched since March 29th due to rainouts. It will be a critical game in this series with the Mets sending their ace to the mound in Matt Harvey to face Tomlin. The Mets will want to work counts tomorrow, and make Tomlin  work hard and throw as many pitches as possible. We  have seen what a long layoff can do to a pitcher a la Steven Matz earlier this week. The Mets will have an even tougher challenge Sunday facing the 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, which makes tomorrow’s game an important one in the series. 

• The Mets will play the Indians in the second game of their three game set tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 pm et. The game can be seen on WPIX.

• Matt Harvey (0-2, 4.63 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets opposing Josh Tomlin (0-0, 0.00 ERA) who will be making his season debut for the Tribe.