The Mets second baseman Dilson Herrera had a career game at Citi Field on Wednesday night as the Mets, for their eighth straight time, defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1.
Jacob deGrom performed outstandingly on the mound as he limited Baltimore to one run and six hits in seven innings. He walked one batter while fanning nine, his season high.
Herrera, the youngest position player in MLB, contributed mightily in spurring the Mets offense. The 21 year old was recalled from the Mets AAA affiliate on May 1 after batting .370 (30 for 81) and driving in 11 runs in 20 games for Las Vegas.
In his first 13 at bats with the Mets, Herrera only managed to hit safely once. Circumstances for the rookie changed dramatically during the second game against Baltimore on Wednesday.
The 14th major league player born in the country of Colombia and the first in Mets history made himself a source of greater pride to baseball fans in his homeland and known better by major league followers in the United States. After the game on Wednesday, the young player remarked, “I try to represent my country of Colombia and my many countrymen living in Queens and New York.”
When he stepped to the plate for the first time in the second frame, two were out and two , Michael Cuddyer and Kevin Plawecki) were on base after drawing walks from Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez, Herrera singled to center to drive in the first run of the game.
In the fourth, he singled to keep the Mets rally that led to a run alive. His single followed that of Plawercki and was followed by one by deGrom to load the sacks. A sacrifice fly to left by Curtis Grandreson knocked in the third run for the Mets.
The young infielder hit his first home run at Citi field in his third and final trip to the plate in the sixth. With one out and Wilmer Flores on second, Herrera took a 1-1 pitch into the stands in left to drive in his second and third runs of the contest. After the contest, he commented, “I didn’t know the ball would go out.”
In addition to making a crucial contribution to the Mets win, his performance was a personal triumph. It was a great day for the very young ballplayer, “I’m sop excited by this night.”
His first appearance in the majors was on August 29, 2014. He started last season in Class A St. Lucie. He was soon promoted to Binghamton (AA) as the youngest player in the Eastern League. After moving to the majors, he played 18 late season games with the Mets as the youngest player on a MLB roster when the season closed.
Herrera believes that that month on the club in 2014 was beneficial to him currently, “Being here last year helped [deal] with the pressure. I have a little more confidence.”
It is likely that Herrera will return to Las Vegas when David Wright returns to the club and Daniel Murphy moves back to second base. Herrera reacted to the possible future plans of the Mets management, “I have to keep working hard. I just want to play the gamer as well as I can. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”