Schwei's Mets Notes: Walker Helps Power Victories, Colon Makes Subway Series History
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets still could not put together back-to-back wins as they went 3-4 last week in their seven interleague games against the crosstown rival Yankees and Detroit Tigers.
The Mets salvaged the final game of their three-game series in Detroit with a 3-1 win Sunday afternoon. Michael Conforto's solo home run in the seventh inning and Neil Walker's two-run homer in the ninth accounted for the Mets' offense in the victory.
One hundred seven of the 146 home runs the Mets have hit in 2016 have come in wins. Here are the Mets who have homered the most times in victories in 2016:
• Neil Walker, 15
• Yoenis Cespedes, 13
• Curtis Granderson, 12
• Michael Conforto, 11
• Asdrubal Cabrera, 9
• Wilmer Flores, 7
• David Wright, 7
The Mets lost a pair of one-run decisions to the Tigers in their first two games in Detroit, 4-3 on Friday night and 6-5 Saturday night. Ex-Met Francisco Rodriguez earned saves in both games for the Tigers. K-Rod begins the week with 418 career saves, sixth on the all-time list. One hundred twenty-seven of those saves have come since Rodriguez was traded by the Mets during the 2011 season.
Here is the list for most career saves by relievers after leaving the Mets:
• Jeff Reardon, 357
• Rick Aguilera, 311
• Jason Isringhausen, 292
• Randy Myers, 291
• Heath Bell, 168
• Francisco Rodriguez, 127
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The Mets captured the last of the four interleague games against the Yankees thanks to Bartolo Colon, who allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings to pick up his 10th win of the season in the Mets' 4-1 victory Thursday night in the Bronx.
Colon, who earned a win against the Mets while pitching for the Yankees in 2011, is the first pitcher to win a Subway Series game for each team.
The only other pitcher to start games for both the Mets and Yankees in interleague play was Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who went 2-0 in four starts against the Mets and 0-2 in his two starts against the Yankees.
The Yankees beat the Mets 9-5 Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. Mark Teixeira's three-run, second-inning home run off Steven Matz was the big blow in the Yanks' win.
Teixeira, who later in the week announced that he would retire after this season, hit 15 career homers and drove in 51 runs in his career vs. the Mets, hitting at least one home run in each of the 10 seasons he played at least one game against them.
The Mets beat the Yankees, 7-1, last Tuesday night at Citi Field. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that the Mets, who entered the game with a majors-worst .205 batting average with runners in scoring position, went 4-for-10 in that situation in the win, with all the hits coming in a four-run seventh inning.
According to Elias, the only other times this season the Mets had at least four hits with runners in scoring position in an inning were on April 29 against the Giants (eight RISP hits in a 12-run third inning) and July 3 vs. the Cubs (five hits in a seven-run second inning).
The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez made the final out of the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning in what may have been his final at-bat against the Mets. A-Rod hit .308 with 13 homers and 39 RBIs in 62 career games against the Mets.
The Mets lost to the Yankees 6-5 in 10 innings last Monday night in the first of the four games between the two clubs. It was the seventh regular season extra-innings game between the Mets and Yankees.
• Aug. 1, 2016: Yankees 6 at Mets 5 (10)
• July 3, 2011: Yankees 2 at Mets 3 (11)
• May 20, 2006: Yankees 5 at Mets 4 (11)
• June 22, 2003: Yankees 7 at Mets 3 (11)
• June 14, 2002: Yankees 4 at Mets 2 (10)
• July 7, 2001: Mets 3 at Yankees 0 (10)
• June 18, 1997: Mets 2 at Yankees 3 (10)
Nine Miles of Rough Road: One and Done. The Mets have not won back-to-back games since July 6-7 against the Marlins and Nationals.
Happy Recap: Neil Walker. The Mets' second baseman is hitting .469 (23-for-49) with three homers and nine RBIs in his last 12 games.