Royals 4 - 3 Mets
Final/12
  for this game

Mets get back to work vs. Royals

Aug 3, 2013 - 3:58 PM (Sports Network) - After an extra-inning thriller on Friday night, the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets will go at it again Saturday at Citi Field.

It took 11 innings for the Mets and Royals to determine a winner on Friday night but thanks to a two-run home run from Eric Young Jr., the Mets came out on top in the 4-2 decision.

David Wright hit a two-run home run in the first inning of the game and the score remained 2-0 until the eighth inning when the Royals scored a run on a fielder's choice hit by Salvador Perez. The Royals then added a run on a sacrifice fly by Lorenzo Cain in the next inning to force extra innings.

David Aardsma was guilty of the blown save as he allowed the game-tying run while pitching two-thirds of an inning. Carlos Torres earned the win by pitching two scoreless innings and was slated to start Saturday, but now Jeremy Hefner gets the nod.

The win ended a two-game slide for the Mets.

Meanwhile, Hefner is winless (0-2) in his last four starts and 4-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 22 overall games (21 starts) this season. He has never faced Kansas City and has struggled at Citi Field to the tune of 1-5 in 10 outings.

Hefner will not have Wright for this matchup after the All-Star third baseman limped off the field in the 10th inning with a strained right hamstring. Wright was then placed on the disabled list Saturday and the club recalled Mike Baxter from Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move.

Wright went 2-for-5 with a run scored Friday night, is riding a six-game hitting streak and has a .309 batting average with 16 homers and 54 RBI this season. Wright tied Mike Piazza for second on the club's home run list with 220. Darryl Strawberry is first with 252 home runs.

Luis Mendoza took the loss for the Royals as he served up Young Jr.'s home run after pitching 1 2/3 innings of relief.

The Royals had only six hits in the loss, snapping a nine-game winning streak.

It looks as if Bruce Chen has worked his way back into the starting rotation for the Royals as he gets set to make his fourth start of the season Saturday.

Chen has spent most of the season in the bullpen for the Royals but his last three outings have been starts.

The most recent of those outings came on July 28 when he allowed just a pair of runs on three hits over six innings. Chen also struck out a season-high five batters in the contest.

This season Chen has gone 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA as a starter and 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA in 19 relief appearances. Overall, Chen is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA in 51 2/3 innings of work.

In his career Chen is 1-1 with a 3.61 ERA in 15 total appearances against the Mets.

With the win on Friday, New York took a 4-3 edge in the all-time series between these two clubs.






Related News