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Schwei's Mets Notes: Power Bats Move On, Granderson Leaves His Mark

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The New York Mets have lost seven of their last eight games after dropping the opener of their four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, in 10 innings Monday night at Citi Field.

After A.J. Pollock's two-run homer in the 10th inning gave Arizona the lead, Michael Conforto hit his 27th home run of the season in the bottom of the inning, but it was not enough, as the Mets fell a run short.

MORE: Familia Set To Pitch For Brooklyn Cyclones

The Mets have now hit 185 home runs this season, the most in the National League, but 83 of the homers came from players who are no longer with the club:
• Jay Bruce, 29
• Curtis Granderson, 19
• Lucas Duda, 17
• Neil Walker, 10
• Rene Rivera, 8

New York Yankees v New York Mets
Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets hits a grand slam in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Citi Field on August 17, 2017. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Monday night's game was the first that went to extra innings for the Mets since May 30 -- a 5-4, 12-inning win over the Brewers.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 72-game stretch without any extra-inning games is the longest single-season span in team history.

On Sunday afternoon, the Mets lost the rubber game of their three-game series against the Marlins, 6-4.

Back on April 9, the Mets beat Miami, 5-2, in their first Sunday home game of the season. Since then, the Mets have gone 1-9 at Citi Field on Sundays, with the only other win coming on June 18 -- a 5-1 victory over the Nationals.

On Saturday night, the Mets ended their five-game losing streak with an 8-1 win over the Marlins.

Rafael Montero had his second straight quality start, allowing one run on six hits in six innings for his second win of the season.

Montero now has three wins in 23 career starts. The only other pitcher in Mets history with as few as three victories in 20 or more starts for the club was John Mitchell, who went 3-7 in 20 career starts for the Mets in 1986 and 1987.

On Friday night, New York lost the opening game of the series with the Marlins, 3-1. But the news after the game was that Curtis Granderson had been traded to the Dodgers for cash or a player to be named later, which turned out to be minor league reliever Jacob Rhame.

Granderson, who was in the final year of a four-year, $60 million deal, hit 95 home runs and drove in 247 runs in his Mets' stint.

MORE: Keidel: With Granderson Trade, Mets Lost A Real Gentleman And Sportsman

The only player who joined the Mets as a free agent and hit more homers than Granderson in club history was Carlos Beltran, who hit 149 home runs in his six-plus seasons in Flushing.

Beltran (559), Bobby Bonilla (277 in his first stint), Cliff Floyd (273) and Robin Ventura (265) are the only free agents to drive in more runs for the Mets than Granderson.

On Thursday night, the Yankees completed the four-game Subway Series sweep of the Mets with a 7-5 win at Citi Field.

Granderson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth in what turned out to be his final at-bat with the Mets.

It was third grand slam by a Mets hitter against the Yankees in interleague play since the two clubs began facing each other in the regular season in 1997. The others were:

• June 9, 2000: Mike Piazza, Mets 12 at Yankees 2
• June 27, 2008: Carlos Delgado, Mets 15 at Yankees 6

On Wednesday night, the Mets lost to the Yankees, 5-3, at Citi Field. Paul Sewald took the loss, allowing a two-out, bases-loaded double in the seventh inning to Didi Gregorius.

PHOTOS: Subway Series

Sewald's record fell to 0-5. The last Mets pitcher to lose the first five decisions of his major league career was Colin McHugh, spanning 2012 and 2013.

Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes were both sidelined with injuries, so Travis d'Arnaud made his first career start at third base Wednesday night and shifted back and forth with second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera throughout the game.

Only three other players in club history have played at least one game at catcher, third base and second base for the Mets:

• Alex Trevino (1978-81, 1990): 179 at catcher, 43 at third base, 13 at second base
• Tucker Ashford (1981, 1983): 1 at catcher, 15 at third base, 13 at second base
• Jeff McKnight (1992-94): 1  at catcher, 13 at third base, 33 at second base

On Tuesday night, Mets rookies Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario hit two-run homers, but the Yankees held on to sweep the Bronx half of the Subway Series with a 5-4 at Yankee Stadium.

According to Elias, before Smith and Rosario, the last time two Mets age 22 or younger hit home runs in the same game was on Aug. 24, 2005 when David Wright and Jose Reyes homered in an 18-4 win at Arizona.

Smith's home run was the first of his major league career. Kevin Plawecki is the only other Mets player to hit his first major league home run during a Mets-Yankees Subway Series game. Plawecki homered against CC Sabathia on April 25, 2015, in an 8-2 win at Yankee Stadium.

Happy Recap: Double Duty. Cabrera and Smith tied a Mets record Saturday by taking part in five double plays, a mark set by Marv Throneberry in a 5-2 win over the Giants in San Francisco on Aug. 8, 1962.

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Snakebit. Including Monday's loss, the Mets are now 1 and 9 against Arizona since the start of last season. They were swept in a three-game series at Chase Field back in May.

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