Yoenis Cespedes said he got less than 10 practice swings in the Mets’ indoor batting cage before he came off the bench to hit a game-tying three-run homer in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Reds. Assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler pegged the number at closer to 40.
Either way, the slugger’s dramatic swing came after three days nursing a badly bruised right leg, and gave the Mets their first come-from-behind win of the year.
“I didn’t expect any of it, didn’t expect to play,” Cespedes said through a translator on Wednesday. “I was back in the trainer’s room, still getting treatment and working on that, and they came back to find me to say: Terry (Collins) wants you to go out there.