Mets top Marlins 11-3 with early burst as Cabrera gets hurt

NEW YORK -- Asdrubal Cabrera tried for a diving stop in the shortstop hole, landed on his left thumb and rolled onto his back, grimacing.

Given their crowded disabled list, the New York Mets are bracing for the worst.

"I don't know how bad it is, but he's certainly hurting," manager Terry Collins said after Saturday night's 11-3 rout of the Miami Marlins. "He was in quite a bit of pain on the field."

Cabrera, whose RBI double sparked a five-run first inning against fill-in starter Odrisamer Despaigne (0-1), had X-rays, which were negative. He is scheduled for an MRI on Sunday, which could reveal ligament damage.

"That's so unfortunate. He is one of the main cogs that kind of keeps this thing going," said Jay Bruce, who drove in three runs with a pair of doubles.

Cabrera landed on his thumb diving for Marcell Ozuna's third-inning single, just before a 39-minute rain delay.

If Cabrera is sidelined for a long period, New York could bring up 21-year-old shortstop Amed Rosario from Triple-A Las Vegas. Rosario entered Saturday hitting .381 with 15 RBI and seven stolen bases in 28 games.

"It's nice to be put in the situation where there's expectations, so that you don't get caught up in, `Well, it doesn't matter how I do.' It does matter how you do. It always will," Collins said. "You come up here and the intenseness of what we're going through right now, I think you learn from it. You learn how to focus. You learn how to stay focused."

Signed by the Mets in 2012, Rosario is ranked as the club's top prospect and one of the best in baseball.

"I got an opportunity to play with him last year in the minor leagues and this year in spring training. I think the guy -- he's ready," said Jose Reyes, who moved from third base to shortstop after Cabrera's injury. "He plays the game so relaxed. We want to see that here. ... He's going to be fine, I think, because he knows what he can do and his talent is going to take over."

Despite the loss of Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda and Travis d'Arnaud from their batting order, the Mets have scored seven or more runs in five straight games for the first time since September 2007. And they did it without any home runs.

"With Ces out and now with Cabby out, we've got to spread the wealth around and we've got to get everybody to chip in," Collins said.

Michael Conforto forced home runs with a pair of bases-loaded walks -- he leads the major leagues with four bases-loaded walks -- as the Mets won for the sixth time in eight games. Miami has lost nine of 11.

Marlins first baseman Justin Bour and third baseman Martin Prado botched easy grounders for errors that led to five unearned runs. Prado let another grounder hit the heel of his glove, losing the chance for an inning-ending double play as New York went on to score three runs in the eighth.

J.T. Realmuto had a run-scoring passed ball , and Ozuna dropped a fly to left for another error and overran a single on a miserable night for the Marlins' defense, which had committed an NL-low nine errors coming in.

"It was one of those games," manager Don Mattingly said. "We're a good defensive club, but tonight wasn't our proudest moment."

Robert Gsellman (2-2) allowed home runs to Giancarlo Stanton and Ozuna but won his second straight start, pitching out of near-constant trouble to allow three runs and five hits in five innings. Stanton's solo shot in the second was his 18th at Citi Field, five more than any other visiting player.

Despaigne (0-1) came up from the minor leagues to make his first big league start since Sept. 13, 2015, for San Diego at San Francisco. Pitching in place of ailing Wei-Yin Chen, he allowed eight runs -- three earned -- five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. Despaigne, who came within four outs of a no-hitter against the Mets three years ago, needed 38 pitches to get through the first.

"I did kind of lose it after the error at first base," he said through a translator.

PLUNKED

Four batters were hit by pitches, two on each team, raising the series total to eight -- including five Marlins.

GLOVE GEMS

Mets center fielder Curtis Granderson ran in for a sliding catch on Adeiny Hechavarria in the eighth , then sprinted a long distance for a backhand grab of Realmuto's drive to the warning track.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Marlins: CF Christian Yelich missed a start for the first time this season. "He got a little bit of a tight hammy last night and felt kind of the same today," Mattingly said. "You don't want to lose him for four to six weeks, so we're going to try to give him a day, resolve this and then get him back in there tomorrow if everything's OK."

Mets: RHP Noah Syndergaard will not throw for six weeks because of a torn muscle behind his right shoulder, a timetable that means the star pitcher won't return until after the All-Star break.

UP NEXT

Matt Harvey (2-2) enters Sunday's series finale after giving up six or more runs in consecutive starts for the first time in his big league career, a pair of losses to Atlanta that raised his ERA from 2.84 to 5.14. Jose Urena (0-0) makes his first start of the season for Miami after six relief appearances.

---

More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball