Young moves to second to get Brown in lineup

NEW YORK -- In an effort to get Andrew Brown into the lineup against D-backs left-hander Patrick Corbin, Mets manager Terry Collins decided to move Eric Young to second base for Tuesday night's game against Arizona.

"We looked up his defensive statistics, and actually, he's played second base much better than he plays the outfield," Collins said. "I thought we'd give it a shot tonight and see what we got."

Brown, who had the game-winning, two-run single in the Mets' 5-4 13-inning win over Arizona on Monday, batted sixth and played left field, where Young had been mostly playing while with the Mets.

Young has played second base 50 times in his Major League career. He's done it twice this season, once with Colorado and he also played there for 1 2/3 innings in the Mets' 5-4 loss to the White Sox on June 25.

Young, whom the Mets acquired in a trade with the Rockies on June 18, has given the club a spark at the top of the lineup. In 12 games with the Mets, he's hitting .327 with eight RBIs and five doubles.

Collins said he wanted to keep center fielder Juan Lagares in the lineup because of his strong defense, and right fielder Marlon Byrd is providing too much offense in the cleanup spot to take him out at this point.

The best place to get Brown in the lineup while keeping the rest of the lineup intact, Collins said, was to move Young to second. It also gives regular second baseman Daniel Murphy a rest.

"We've got five righties coming up we know of, six of the next seven," Collins said. "There's nothing wrong with getting Dan a day off."