ST. LOUIS — In search of anything that can jump-start this sagging Mets lineup, manager Terry Collins reverted Monday to a spring-training experiment.
As the Mets opened a three-game series against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, the manager’s lineup card had pitcher Jacob deGrom batting eighth and Eric Young Jr. ninth. The Mets had never batted the pitcher eighth or higher in their history.
Collins said the decision was reached with no disrespect intended toward Young, who was activated from the disabled list before the game after missing the last three weeks with a strained right hamstring.
But Collins was determined to give Curtis Granderson a second straight start in the leadoff spot and thought Young in the ninth hole would give the Mets their best chance at creating RBI chances for Daniel Murphy and David Wright.
Since deGrom only lasted 4 ¹/₃ innings in the 6-2 loss, he only got two at-bats — one a sacrifice bunt, and a line out to second in the fourth.
Young went 1-for-4 with a strikeout in the nine-hole.
Collins experimented with a similar lineup toward the middle of spring training, batting the pitcher eighth and Ruben Tejada ninth.
“It’s what we talked about in spring training, basically to try to get an extra runner on for the middle of the lineup,” Collins said. “We thought today was a good day to do it, with the fact Jake has been so good offensively. We thought that might be a start and just telling Grandy I was going to lead him off, I hate to lead him off one day and then jerk him out.”
Granderson batted leadoff against the Padres on Sunday and homered against Ian Kennedy. The blast was Granderson’s 25th career leadoff homer and first since 2009 with the Tigers.
DeGrom entered play 5-for-11 (.455) at the plate. Young was batting .220 with a .315 on-base percentage.
Collins was asked why he scrapped the experiment in spring training.
“We thought about it, but as we got into the season, we weren’t sure how we were going to use it in the beginning,” Collins said. “We had Jenrry [Mejia] and Bartolo [Colon] who are not offensive pitchers, so you’ve got an out in the middle of your lineup, which wasn’t going to work.
“The other three guys we thought about doing it with and we just didn’t do it, because I just didn’t like the way it was looking.”
Dillon Gee (strained lat) threw 35 pitches in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and is scheduled for a bullpen session on Thursday in front of team officials at Marlins Park.
Juan Lagares (rib cage) took live batting practice and could soon be cleared for a rehab assignment, according to Collins.
Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to clear roster space for Young.