MLB

Mets’ Brown, Lagares carry big bats into surprise starts

One year ago, neither Andrew Brown nor Juan Lagares were on the Mets’ Opening Day roster. And neither knew until a few hours before game time Monday they would be starting.

“Preparation probably would have gotten in my head. Honestly, I thought it worked out great,” said Brown, who later amended, “except for the loss.”

Brown and Lagares delivered home runs that should have been the backbone of a winning assault. Should have but weren’t as the Mets lost, 9-7, to Washington in 10 innings. It’s hard to win when five of six relievers combine to pitch two innings, surrender five hits, four walks, five runs and blow a save. And, even with Brown and Lagares joining David Wright in a home run parade, it’s tough to survive the offensive anemia of 18 strikeouts.

Brown put the Mets up 3-0 in the first, crushing a 2-2 Stephen Strasburg fastball with two aboard. And after Washington later forged a 4-4 knot, Lagares punished a Tyler Clippard 0-2 inside fastball in the eighth for a 5-4 lead that didn’t stand.

For Lagares, his two-hit, three-run, one-walk (against a lefty, which pumped up manager Terry Collins) day was a huge boost for his confidence. After all, you say “Lagares,” you think “defense.”

“To play Opening Day, I just went out there, tried to have fun and just try to play the game the way I do, play hard. I’ve been working a lot and trying to be patient and go for better pitches. I try to see more strikes and that’s what I did today,” said Lagares, who hit four homers in 121 games last season. “Every time you hit a bomb you feel good. But you have to win and we lost today.”

Brown and Lagares got the call through circumstance. Second baseman Daniel Murphy was with his wife in Florida, expecting the birth of the couple’s first child. Eric Young Jr., slated to start in left, moved to second. And Chris Young had a minor injury. Opportunity knocked and Brown was waiting, bat in hand.

“I’m a big, grown kid, you can’t not be happy,” said Brown (1-of-4). “I figured EY would probably be starting at second and I knew [about Chris Young] but I didn’t know the extent. I wasn’t thinking about [starting] until he told me.

“It was amazing,” said Brown, who played in 68 games for the Mets last season. “I couldn’t be more excited to start off the season that way but you can’t be too excited: You just lost the game but it’s over with. … It was a lot of fun. First at-bat, first time I get to start on Opening Day, I couldn’t ask it to go any better. I’m ecstatic, but I’d have loved to have better at-bats after that.”