Mickey Callaway reserved Tuesday’s cleanup spot for the owner of the lowest batting average and fewest home runs of any Mets position player in the starting lineup.
Robinson Cano then reinforced the manager’s belief that the aging, eight-time All-Star still belongs in the heart of the order — and convinced countless more.
After spending nine years building a Hall of Fame case — and winning a Home Run Derby — while wearing pinstripes in The Bronx, Robinson Cano ended up producing his first-ever three home run game in Queens, steering a season’s worth of animosity from Citi Field crowds into standing ovations, while going 4-for-4 and driving in every run during the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Padres on Tuesday night.
Prior to the All-Star break, Cano tied a career-low by hitting just four home runs. Over the past nine games, he’s hit five, having become the 13th player in franchise history with a three-homer game and the oldest second baseman in major league history to achieve the feat.
“It’s something special,” Cano said. “As a player, there’s things you sometimes you want to accomplish to see how it feels — and it feels good.”
Following a first-inning single, Cano broke a scoreless tie by leading off the fourth with a bomb off of NL Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Paddack into the second deck in right field. In the sixth, Cano clinched the 23rd multi-homer game of his career, putting the Mets up 3-0 with a two-run shot, knocking Paddack from the game.
In the seventh, Cano completed what never came while taking aim for nearly a decade at Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right, hitting another two-run shot off of southpaw Logan Allen into the upper deck in right, giving the Mets a 5-0 lead, while prompting once-unimaginable chants of “Rob-in-son” from the crowd.
Before becoming the third Mets player to hit three homers in Queens, Cano hadn’t homered at Citi Field since April 6.
“It was hard for me to get four the first half of the season … [but] I always stay positive,” Cano said. “I know how hard I work, all the stuff that I do. … I know it’s gonna turn around.”
Cano’s first season with the Mets has been defined by his struggles, lack of hustle and the routine boos by fans, while being made the face of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s disastrous offseason decisions, threatening to haunt the team with another four years left on his contract after this season.
On June 27, the career .302 hitter was batting .222. Now, he’s hitting .254, having gone 13-for-38 (.342) in 10 games since the All-Star break.
“He’s always gonna be able to hit,” manager Mickey Callaway said before the game. “These Hall of Fame-type hitters, they don’t lose that ability to hit. Are they gonna through probably rougher patches as they get older? Yes, that’s just reality but you’re gonna look at the end of most of these years and he’s going to have some pretty good years because he can just flat out hit.”
“He’s been through ups and downs at the plate, obviously, but I think when he’s going he can still be an elite hitter. … You don’t hit three homers if you’re declining.”
In the worst season of his career, Cano could enjoy one of the greatest nights of his career — and best mornings of the season.
“I’m happy that things are turning around so you guys aren’t killing me in the paper anymore,” Cano said.
https://nypost.com/2019/07/23/robinson-cano-unexpectedly-has-monster-night-to-carry-mets/
2019-07-24 02:21:00Z
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