Yo is back! Céspedes’ HR lifts Mets to win

NEW YORK — Two years and four days had passed since Yoenis Céspedes last played in a Major League game. It hardly took a cynical Mets fan to think he might never play again. In addition to a pair of surgeries to remove calcification in his heels, Céspedes underwent a

NEW YORK — Two years and four days had passed since Yoenis Céspedes last played in a Major League game. It hardly took a cynical Mets fan to think he might never play again. In addition to a pair of surgeries to remove calcification in his heels, Céspedes underwent a third operation to repair his right ankle, which he fractured in a ranch accident. Younger players had failed to return from less; at the least, the heady days of Céspedes’ career seemed long in the past.

All the while, he smoldered. One of the beating hearts of the Mets’ 2015 World Series run, Céspedes talks openly now about how all the public doubt drove him to work. When the Mets slashed his salary as a result of the ranch accident, he used that as motivation, too. Each morning during baseball’s coronavirus shutdown, Céspedes awoke at 5 a.m. to train.

Then, in the seventh inning of a scoreless Opening Day game at Citi Field on Friday, Céspedes began to make good on his promises of a renaissance. Chris Martin left a 93 mph fastball over the outer edge of home plate. Céspedes crushed it, depositing it nearly all the way up the lower seating bowl in left field to give the Mets the only run they would need in a 1-0 win over the Braves.

That only one run was necessary was due in large part to Jacob deGrom, who struck out eight Braves over five innings of one-hit ball before departing due to pitch-count concerns. Seth Lugo followed with two shutout innings, and Justin Wilson and Edwin Díaz locked down the eighth and ninth, respectively.

The Mets improved to 39-20 all time on Opening Day, the best mark in Major League history.

Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDiComo, Instagram and Facebook.