Game one took place on April the 15th, where Bartolo Colon made his 469th career start against the team he spent his first 5 1/2 seasons with. For Cleveland, 25 year old righty Cody Anderson took the mound, fresh off a 6 innings of 2-run ball debut in Chicago. The Mets jumped on Anderson early when Michael Conforto hit a solo homerun in the first, but Cleveland answered back in the bottom of the first with Mike Napoli's RBI single. Following Napoli's single was what may have turned out to be the most pivotal play of the game; Carlos Santana belted what was initially ruled a 2-run HR down the right field line but was overturned and ruled a foul, which resulted in a walk by Santana. Following that Yan Gomes struck out and left Napoli and Santana stranded, keeping the game tied at one. The game remained tied until the Mets had a five run 5th including two homeruns off Cody Anderson (Alejandro De Aza, Yoenis Cespedes), and one off Ross Detwiler (Neil Walker). In the bottom of the 5th Jason Kipnis hit an RBI double with no outs on the board cutting the Mets lead to 6-2, but was left stranded on second. In the 6th inning Cleveland managed to chase Colon by getting runners on first and second with two outs, but Antonio Bastardo came in and stranded the runners. Bartolo ended the night with 5.1 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 5 K's. Neither team scored again until the bottom of the 9th when Cleveland mounted a two out rally and the Mets had another pivotal play go there way, thanks to Alejandro De Aza. Jason Kipnis singled to start the inning, and when it appeared as if Lindor had followed that with a single of his own De Aza made a nice play to take it away.Following De Aza's nice play, Napoli lined out to Juan Lagares for the second out of the inning, leaving Kipnis still on first. Carlos Santana then stepped in and got his two-run homer back, this time going to center field over the glove of Lagares. The Mets then made the decision to bring in closer Jeurys Familia, who immediately gave up a single to Yan Gomes, threw a wild pitch to advance Gomes, and an RBI single to Marlon Byrd, making it a 6-5 game. After Byrd's single, Familia walked Juan Uribe making it first and second with two outs, but got Jose Ramirez to fly out to left to end the game, giving the Mets a 1-0 series lead.
Things to note about game one
*Jason Kipnis was 3-5 with two doubles
*Juan Uribe broke out of his 5-game streak without a hit, going 3-4 with a double
*Trevor Bauer continues to impress out of the bullpen, entered the game in the top of the 7th with a runner on second none out and stranded him, Tossed 2 scoreless innings
*Dan Otero made an impressive second appearance in a perfect 9th inning, struck out two
*Yoenis Cespedes begins to heat up, going 3-5 with RBI and coming up a triple short of the cycle
*Neil Walker's homerun was his first from the right side of the plate since 2014
After Cleveland's rally in game one came up short, they looked to strike earlier against Matt Harvey and the New York Mets. However, it was again the Mets striking first on another first inning homerun, this time off the bat of Curtis Granderson. Matt Harvey started out the game for the Mets with four perfect innings, that all changed in a hurry in inning number five; Napoli grounded out to start the frame, but then Harvey issued his first walk of the game to Carlos Santana, and that's when the wheels came off of Harvey's start. After the walk, Harvey got Yan Gomes to flyout, but Santana then stole second base and Jose Ramirez drove him in with an RBI double. Juan Uribe followed the Ramirez double with an RBI single, and Tyler Naquin struck out to end the inning. In the bottom half of the sixth Cleveland was right back at it with a single and a steal by Rajai Davis, followed by and RBI double by second baseman Jason Kipnis. Lindor bunted Kipnis to third, and Mike Napoli drove him in with a single to center. Harvey then walked Santana again, and allowed an RBI single to Yan Gomes. After getting Jose Ramirez to pop-out, Harvey walked Uribe to load the bases and was taken out in favor of Rafael Montero, who struck out Tyler Naquin to end the frame. Cleveland would score to more in the 7th off of an RBI double by Francisco Lindor and a second RBI single by Mike Napoli, stretching the Indians lead to 7-1. In the top of the 8th, Bryan Shaw came in and the Mets mounted a rally. Shaw allowed a double to Curtis Granderson and a walk to David Wright to start the inning, and after getting Michael Conforto to strikeout gave up a three-run homerun to Yoenis Cespedes making it a 7-4 game. Terry Francona made the decision to stick with Shaw, and Shaw got Lucas Duda to pop-out before allowing a homerun to Neil Walker and being removed from the game in favor of closer Cody Allen. Allen shut the Mets down with a 1.1 inning save (His third save), walking one but allowing no hits or runs.
Things to note about game two
*Josh Tomlin left the game while warming up before the top of the 6th with a cramp in his right hamstring, the Indians starter had gone 5 innings allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts in his season debut
*Indians reliever Zach McAllister pitched a scoreless 7th inning and has started the season with four innings in four relief appearances allowing just one hit and one walk
*Indians reliever Bryan Shaw continues to struggle, Shaw ended 2015 with a rough second half ERA of 4.18, including a 3.95 in August, 4.73 in September, and 6.75 in October, Shaw has continued his struggles in 2016 with an ERA of 8.64 in the Spring and has given up nine runs in 3.1 innings this season
*Jason Kipnis was 2-4 with another double
*Mike Napoli was 2-4 with 2 RBI
*Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker each homered in their second straight game
*Matt Harvey continued his rough start to the year and is now 0-3 with an ERA of 5.71 and has given up 11 earned runs in 17.1 innings
*Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud left the game after being hit by a pitch on the elbow and is currently listed as day-to-day
Going into the rubber match on Sunday, Cleveland felt confident that their bats would be able to ride their 7-run outburst from the previous night and help their ace Corey Kluber beat Steven Matz of the Mets. Not only did Matz entirely shut-down the Cleveland offense (7 innings, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K's), but Kluber gave up six earned runs in six innings while striking out nine. However, Kluber pitched far better than the box score would indicate, as an error by Kluber and Rajai Davis struggles in the outfield led to the Mets capitalizing on big opportunities. The Mets scored three clean runs in the first on an RBI double by Michael Conforto and an RBI single by Lucas Duda, but after that the next three were all aided. In the top of the second the Mets had Curtis Granderson on third (After a sun-aided triple) and Asdrubal Cabrera tried a two out drag bunt to drive in Granderson; Kluber threw the ball away trying to throw out Cabrera and the inning continued. Conforto once again hit an RBI double and then Cespedes came up with an RBI double, this one again aided by the sun. Cleveland never did recover from the miscues, and the Mets bullpen followed Matz brilliant start with two perfect innings striking out six more hitters.
Things to note about game three
*Mike Napoli went 0-4, snapping his 8-game hit streak
*Corey Kluber has started the season 0-3 with an ERA of 6.16 while striking out 19
*Ross Detwiler, Joba Chamberlain, and Dan Otero combined for three scoreless innings allowing just one walk (Detwiler) and no hits following Kluber's departure
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