When Yoenis Cespedes came back Saturday despite admittedly not being 100 percent, the cynics wondered how long he would last before getting hurt again.
The answer was two days.
Three home runs, two defensive highlights, one complete-game gem, and all anybody will talk about is Cespedes getting hurt. Again.
But unlike the hamstring and quad injuries that cost their best player more than three dozen games, the Mets insist Monday’s sore left heel isn’t new and isn’t serious. And it’s also not going to take the shine off a 6-1 win over the defending world-champion Cubs in front of 33,268 at Citi Field, their fourth straight win.
The Mets got a complete game from Jacob deGrom (5-3) — their first of the season — two home runs from Asdrubal Cabrera and a team-leading 17th from Jay Bruce. It was, in short, a comprehensive victory. Now they’ll have to wait and see how Cespedes is Tuesday to find out if it was a Pyrrhic one.
“We’ll wait until he gets here [Tuesday]. He’s scheduled to play — but I don’t know just yet,’’ said manager Terry Collins.
For his part, Cespedes said he should be fine Tuesday and the heel is no big deal. With Michael Conforto scratched with a stiff back and potentially missing a day or two, it is poor timing.
Yoenis CespedesAnthony J. Causi“Since I’ve played in Cuba this is something my heels just act up,’’ Cespedes said through an interpreter. “Sometimes it’ll be two weeks without feeling anything. Sometimes it’ll hurt for three or four days. I’ve just always played through this. I’m used to it.
“I’m just trying to be a little bit cautious, that’s why I decided to leave the game. … I’m not 100 percent when it comes to running the way I want to be running, so I’d never want to aggravate the injury I just came off of by doing something related to something else and make it worse.”
That injury was originally a hamstring which was followed by the quad problem that altogether cost him 37 games. But after returning at less than 100 percent, Cespedes got a visit in left field Monday from both Collins and trainer Ray Ramirez came in the fifth inning. He stayed in to hit in the bottom of the frame — flying out and finishing 1-for-3 against John Lackey (4-7) — before giving way to Juan Lagares.
“We were concerned about it, but he said, ‘Nah, I’ll be OK.’ ” Collins said. “As a precaution, we took him out.”
It was the only negative on a solid night that saw deGrom toss a complete game, allowing just five hits and one run, walking four and striking out six.
Cabrera bumped into Jose Reyes to produce an early two-base error on Jason Heyward’s pop-up, but deGrom retired Willson Contreras to get out of the jam. And Cabrera redeemed himself with a second-inning solo shot and a fourth-inning homer to make it 4-0, his sixth career multi-homer game.
Bruce added a two-run shot — his team-high 17th — in the third for a 3-0 lead. After that deGrom cruised.
“The two [starts] before that I got my teeth kicked in, so definitely wanted to have a good one and fortunate enough that I did. I don’t know how many double-plays we turned, four or five. But those guys made great plays behind me,’’ said deGrom, who made better use of his changeup.
“Dan [Warthen, pitching coach] said I was throwing it like 4 percent [of the time] this year, and in years past it’s been at 20 percent. Definitely a big difference for me. … When I fly open, it’s not good. That’s when it floats in there and seems to get hit. If I stay closed and on top of the ball, normally my changeup is good. That’s what we were trying to do in between [starts] and it helped all my pitches.”
