Yoenis Cespedes stood near the batter’s box for a moment, holding his bat, watching the fastball he had crushed into the second deck of the left-field stands. Cespedes took a few steps, flipped his bat high into the air and rounded the bases. The theme song from “The Natural” pumped through Citi Field, fireworks exploded and Mets fans hugged one another, screaming.
The three-run homer essentially ended Game 3 of this National League division series in the fourth inning on Monday night. From there, the Mets cruised to a 13-7 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers to take a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-five series.