Travis d’Arnaud enjoys rare crowning achievement

Travis d’Arnaud took the crown on Thursday night.The Mets catcher had a two-run double in the fifth inning to seize the lead in a 6-2 win over the Braves. After the game, he was given a toy crown by teammate David Wright. The silver and blue bedazzled crown...

Travis d’Arnaud enjoys rare crowning achievement

Travis d’Arnaud took the crown on Thursday night.

The Mets catcher had a two-run double in the fifth inning to seize the lead in a 6-2 win over the Braves. After the game, he was given a toy crown by teammate David Wright. The silver and blue bedazzled crown replaces the championship belt the Mets have handed out to the player of the game for the past two seasons.

“It was nice to be able to contribute to a win and finish with the crown on my head,” d’Arnaud said. “Other people started using the belt. We’re trying to be original.”

Though the crown was nice for d’Arnaud, the hit was much nicer.

He did not have an RBI against a left-handed pitcher in 2016. He has two already in 2017, with his big hit coming against Jaime Garcia and putting the Mets up 2-1. It came right after Matt Harvey gave up a solo home run to Matt Kemp to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.

“That’s huge,” d’Arnaud said. “To give up a run and be able to come back and get the momentum back was huge. [Wilmer Flores] sealed the deal with the two-run homer.”

The Mets had gone 11 straight innings without scoring a run when d’Arnaud connected with his double to left-center field. It is only the third game of the season, but the tension was beginning to grow in the Mets’ dugout wondering if they would give Harvey the run support they failed to give Jacob deGrom in a 12-inning loss the night before.

“Travis’ hit kind of took the [sighs of relief], let’s relax, we scored some runs,” manager Terry Collins said. “Now, let’s go finish it off. Those add-on runs became very important also.”

The Mets are hoping for big things from d’Arnaud, who retooled his swing this winter after batting just .247 last year. There were many calls to sports talk radio asking for the Mets to bring in another catcher, with Matt Wieters a popular choice, but the Mets stuck with d’Arnaud.

On Thursday, that looked like a good decision. He had the crown to prove it. The crown was Wright’s idea. It replaces the championship belt ceremony that Michael Cuddyer started in 2015 and was then copied by other teams.

“David crowned me,” d’Arnaud said of the postgame ceremony. “I didn’t drop to a knee, but I bowed my head. I’m very honored to wear this.”

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