Ruben Tejada made everyone forget those spring training stats pretty quickly.
The Mets shortstop, who scuffled all spring, started the season off with an RBI double and added another hit to finish 2-for-4 with the RBI and two runs scored in an 11-2 Opening Day victory over the Padres.
“The biggest [hit] to get us going was Ruben’s, to be honest,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “That was a huge hit. He’s had a tough spring. To have him be the one to be the first guy to get the big hit I thought was really cool.”
The Mets hoped Tejada could replace Jose Reyes at shortstop last year, and he batted .289 with a home run and 25 RBIs in 114 games.
Tejada began spring training with a home run off Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg in his first at-bat. Then, he went cold. Tejada fell in love with the home run ball and began trying to pull the ball too much. That resulted in him hitting .096 in Florida with seven RBIs.
Collins spoke with Tejada near the end of spring training and the 23-year-old promised the manager he would be ready when the season began. When Tejada doubled to left in the second inning, scoring John Buck, Collins remembered Tejada’s words.
“I turned to [bench coach] Bob Geren and said ‘Well, he didn’t lie to me,’ ” Collins said. “[Tejada] said, ‘When it’s time I’ll be ready.’ That was certainly a starting point for us.”
Tejada later singled and scored when Collin Cowgill drilled a grand slam in the seventh inning. For Tejada, he was not dwelling on the last two months, but looking ahead to the next few months.
“Spring training is history,” Tejada said. “We start new today. We started with the right foot.”