Shaffer homers in 7th, Rays rally again to beat Mets

Writes Vorkunov: “Created by the Mets’ front office and spouted out daily, the Matrix creates a profile for each pitcher – their velocity, their primary and secondary pitches, the movement on those pitches – and shows how Mets hitters have done against other pitchers of that ilk”.

“He simply could not get the ball out of his glove. Tonight just wasn’t our night”.

“They sometimes appear invincible and they’re not”, Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his late-inning relievers. “It was good to see”.

CHICAGO (AP) – Rookie Kyle Schwarber had two hits and two RBIs to back Jon Lester, and Chicago beat San Francisco for its eighth victory in nine games. He was activated before the game after missing nearly three weeks with right triceps inflammation.

“We had chances to win this one, but we couldn’t pull it out in the end”, Granderson said. Cespedes is a good/great outfielder, but he’s not in Lagares’ class. I just hope playing Cespedes in center isn’t going to cost us. The team would typically roll over and die by the ninth inning if they were losing the game.

Lucas Duda led off with a squibber to the left of the mound that Boxberger threw past first base for an error.

Conforto simply went with the outside pitch and drove it perfectly to left center which allowed Duda to score from second.

Flores, the Mets’ shortstop, hit a bloop single to right with runners on first and third, sending Conforto across the plate for the go-ahead run.

Xavier Cedeno (2-1) pitched a scoreless seventh while Jake McGee got three outs to pick up his sixth save.

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Nathan Karns delivers to the New York Mets during the first inning of an interleague baseball game Saturday, August 8, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Fla. DeGrom has won his last three road starts to improve to 5-4 with a 2.69 ERA away from home.Odorizzi also did not factor in the decision in his last turn after giving up three runs on seven hits over six innings in a 4-3 victory at Boston. The Rays went ahead 2-1 on Loney’s solo drive off Jacob deGrom in the seventh. Kiermaier jammed his thumb while sliding into second base but finished the game. “Home runs, just an unbelievable pitching performance by Jake to limit them the way he did and then, there wasn’t a ton of hitting going on on either side, but the hits were big”. He allowed two runs, six hits and had seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. The Florida native received a nice ovation as he walked from the dugout to the bullpen for his pregame warmup.

Phillies 4, Padres 3, 12 inn.: Cameron Rupp hit Philadelphia’s fourth home run of the game, a leadoff shot in the 12th inning that lifted the Phillies to the win. Tampa Bay dropped to 27-31 at Tropicana Field this season after its fourth loss in a row against the Mets.

Rockies 5, Nationals 4 – Drew Storen yielded an eighth-inning grand slam to Carlos Gonzalez, and Washington blew a four-run lead in a loss to visiting Colorado. Rays starter Chris Archer settled down after a wild second inning and gave up three runs and four hits in six innings. Moore went 1-3 with an 8.78 ERA in six starts this season after returning from Tommy John surgery. However, this is partially why the Mets acquired players like Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard, etc. That veteran presence, along with a possibly returning David Wright, will immensely help ensure that the team remains focused and calm heading into September.