Brown sees action right away after callup

CHICAGO -- Andrew Brown hit the ground running in his second stint with the Mets. Called up from Triple-A Las Vegas following Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Cubs, Brown started in left and hit fifth in Thursday's series finale.

"He's really gone down and played very, very well, as I expected," manager Terry Collins said prior to the game. "He's one of those guys who knows he's right on the cusp of being a big league player for good, and went down and went about his job the way he expected. He's back, and I've got to hit him in the middle there, see if he can do some damage."

Brown indeed did some damage, hitting a two-run homer in the seventh inning to tie the score at 4.

Brown was hitting .359 with 13 homers, 36 RBIs and a 1.178 OPS at Triple-A at the time of his promotion. He understands he'll be filling a bench role, but he was happy to get a start right away.

"I mean, when you get called up, you want to play right away, because you're coming from a place where you were [playing] every day, so you want to keep things going," Brown said. "And any time you come back up here, you're always happy. I'm in a good place right now. Hopefully, it stays that way."

Collins said that it's unlikely Brown will play every day for the time being while he continues to juggle outfield playing time between Chris Young, Bobby Abreu and Matt den Dekker.

"That's why we'll try to get [Brown] a game a week -- if for no other reason than you get him in the batter's box four times, because when they do come off the bench in a big situation late in some game, you want them to be ready to do the job."

Collins also slotted Young in the leadoff spot for just the second time this season. Young, who entered the game hitting just .194, had hit .245 in the leadoff spot for his career, the highest mark at any spot in the order with at least 140 at-bats. He added to his RBI total with a run-scoring single in the sixth.

"You know what? He's had his biggest success leading off offensively," Collins said. "So let him lead off and not worry about too much except maybe getting a good ball to hit and driving something, because that's when he hits his most homers -- [from] the leadoff spot."