NEW YORK -- Bartolo Colon departed after four pitches with a bruised right thumb. And Hansel Robles, Erik Goeddel and the rest of the bullpen bailed the New York Mets out big-time.
Since newly promoted Sean Gilmartin wasn't ready to contribute in long relief because he tossed 100 pitches for Triple-A Las Vegas on Saturday, Robles took over for Colon one out into Tuesday’s game and produced career highs with 3 2/3 innings and 65 pitches. Overall, the relief corps contributed 8 2/3 innings and the Mets beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1.
Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes hit solo homers against Royals starter Ian Kennedy. And despite the Mets mustering only six hits, that output stood up thanks to the solid pitching out of the bullpen.
The Mets (37-32) rebounded against the defending World Series champs after getting swept in three games over the weekend by the lowly Atlanta Braves.
“Those are the kind of games, I really believe, that you should grow from,” manager Terry Collins said. “Our bullpen had a tough weekend. And they came back tonight certainly in an unexpected situation.”
Colon was struck with a sharp comebacker on his bare hand off the bat of leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield. X-rays were negative.
Robles then carried a scoreless effort into the fifth, when he ran out of gas. He allowed the first three batters to reach in the inning, including an RBI single by Brett Eibner that pulled the Royals within one.
“I hadn’t pitched this long in the big leagues yet,” Robles said through an interpreter. “I was a little tired, but not too exhausted.”
Goeddel inherited a pair of runners from Robles and stranded them, although Goeddel had to withstand a shot to the right-field wall by pinch hitter Kendrys Morales, who typically serves as Kansas City’s designated hitter.
Goeddel logged two scoreless innings. Jerry Blevins handled the seventh since Jim Henderson landed on the disabled list, and then Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia followed with scoreless frames.
Welcome back: In his first game since April 25, catcher Travis d’Arnaud went 0-for-3. He did throw out Alcides Escobar attempting to steal second base to end the first inning. D’Arnaud had thrown out only 3 of 17 would-be base stealers before landing on the DL with a strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
“I feel great,” d’Arnaud said. “I feel fantastic.”
Welcome back II: After Morales pinch hit for Kennedy in the top of the fifth, ex-Met Dillon Gee entered and tossed two scoreless innings in his first matchup against his former club.
What’s next: With his start delayed by a day, Noah Syndergaard (7-2, 1.91 ERA) will oppose left-hander Danny Duffy (2-1, 3.17) on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Logan Verrett was scratched from Tuesday’s start for Triple-A Las Vegas, presumably to be available for a call-up in case the Mets need a fresh arm.