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NYC hails a Cab(rera)! Met’s HR wows Citi
- Updated: September 23, 2016
NEW YORK — Ender Inciarte was safely in Miami with the Braves. No one was going to take this win away from the Mets, who needed it so badly.
They had to work all night and they had to come back three times, but when it was all over Asdrubal Cabrera’s three-run home run off Edubray Ramos in the 11th inning gave them a dramatic 9-8 win over the Phillies Thursday night at Citi Field.
The comeback win allowed the Mets to hold onto one of the two Wild Card spots in the National League. They began the night in a three-way tie for the two spots with the Giants (who played late Thursday night in San Diego) and the Cardinals (who had the day off), so Thursday’s win temporarily moved them a half-game ahead of both teams.
“We talked before the game and said, ‘It’s a 10-game season,'” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “‘Best team gets in.'”
Thursday’s game was the first of the 10, and for the Mets it felt like the most important. They had just been swept at home by the last-place Braves, with Wednesday’s game ending when Inciarte reached over the center-field fence to rob Yoenis Cespedes of what would have been a game-winning home run.
“We had to win this game, to set the tone after the series we had with the Braves,” said Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, whose two-run home run off Jeanmar Gomez tied it with one out in the ninth.
The Mets had to move past the disappointment, but Inciarte’s catch stuck in their minds. Collins said that even though Reyes’ home run easily cleared the fence, he got nervous when he saw Phillies right fielder Aaron Altherr at the fence.
“I said, ‘Don’t tell me he’s going to catch it,'” Collins said.He didn’t catch it. Nobody did, and the Mets had tied a game they seemed destined to lose after Maikel Franco’s three-run home run off Addison Reed put the Phillies ahead 6-4 in the eighth inning.
But the Reyes home run only tied the game, and the Phillies took another lead with two runs off Mets closer Jeurys Familia in the top of the 11th. An A.J. Ellis single made it 7-6, and after Jim Henderson replaced Familia, he walked Franco to force in another run.
All that did was set things up for Cabrera. Ramos walked pinch-hitter Michael Conforto with one out, and Reyes followed with a single. Ramos left a 1-0 slider up and out over the plate, and Cabrera hit it far enough that no Phillies outfielder had any chance to catch it.
“As soon as I hit it, I knew it would be out,” Cabrera said.
Ramos …
