Welcome Met fans! I'm David Cassilo, and I will be taking you through this afternoon's Mets-Pirates game. The game is a make-up after the two teams were rained out on June 3rd.
The Mets are coming off a victory (a rare thing to say these days) as yesterday Mike Pelfrey got the best of the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo in a duel that saw the Mets come out on top 1-0. The one run came from an RBI single by Ryan Church in the sixth inning.
Remarkably enough, despite all that has happened over the past month the Mets find themselves just two games behind Philadelphia for the division lead. However, it may be more than a two-team race this season as Florida trails the Phillies by a 1/2 game, while Atlanta trails by three. The Mets will look to build a little momentum against Pittsburgh today before heading to Philadelphia this week for a crucial three-game series.
To do so, the Mets will need to do something they haven't done all year - beat the Pirates in their ballpark. Pittsburgh defeated the Mets in all three games earlier this season at PNC Park, winning them by a combined score of 22-12. In May, the Mets swept the Pirates at Citi Field, meaning this is the rubber game of the season series.
PITCHING MATCHUP: The Mets will hope that Tim Redding can turn his season around when he pitches today. Thus far, Redding is 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA. He has given up at least four runs in each of his past three starts, including five runs over 5.1 IP against the Yankees in his last outing on Saturday.
With Oliver Perez close to returning, Redding may be auditioning today to save his spot in the rotation.
Redding has experienced some success against the Pirates in his career as he has a 2-2 record and a 3.79 ERA in 11 career starts. However in five starts at PNC Park, Redding's ERA is 6.38.
If Redding is going to get his second win of the year, the Mets offense must get going against 27-year old left hander Paul Maholm. In 16 starts this season, Maholm is 5-4 with a 4.35 ERA. In his last start, Maholm defeated the Kansas City Royals, while allowing just two runs and five hits over seven innings.
Maholm has faced the Mets six times in his career, including once already this season. That start came at Citi Field on May 9th when he gave up seven runs and ten hits in a loss. However, in his career Maholm is a respectable 3-2 with a 3.65 ERA.
I'll be back for first pitch.
The forecast doesn't look good, but it is supposed to stop raining around 2 PM, so we may get started a little late today.
UPDATE: We will indeed have a rain delay. I will be back whenever the game resumes.
We are back after the rain delay, and it is time for Mets baseball.
Top of the first: With the rain coming down, Luis Castillo grounds out to third. Alex Cora gets the Mets first hit with a bloop single over shortstop.
With one strike to David Wright, we have the second rain delay of the afternoon.
After the second rain delay, Wright flies out to right field on the first pitch of resumed baseball. While Gary Sheffield is batting, Cora advances to second on a wild pitch by Maholm. Sheffield then walks on four pitches. Maholm is looking a little shaky after loading the bases by hitting Fernando Tatis in the leg. After falling behind 3-0, Maholm comes back to get Church to ground out to second.
Bottom of the first: Andrew McCutchen leads off by pulling a double down the first base line. Jack Wilson sacrifices to the pitcher, moving McCutchen to third. With the Mets playing the infield in, Delwyn Young grounds out to shortstop, and the runner holds at third. Redding gets Adam LaRoche to fly out to left field to end the inning.
Top of the second: Quick inning for Maholm. Nick Evans grounds out to third base. Omir Santos grounds out to shortstop. Redding flies out to right field.
Bottom of the second: Garrett Jones gets his first hit of the season with a leadoff double off the right field wall. Andy LaRoche works a walk, and the Robinzon Diaz delivers an RBI single up the middle to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. LaRoche goes to third on the single. Ramon Vazquez walks to load the bases. Redding strikes out Maholm for the first out. With the bases loaded, Redding hits McCutchen to make the score 2-0 Pirates. On a 3-1 count, Wilson hits a sacrifice fly to left field that scores Diaz and extends the lead to 3-0. Young flies out to right field to end the inning.
Top of the third: Castillo hits a line drive single up the middle to start the inning. Cora grounds into a fielder's choice. Cora steals second base. Wright grounds out to third, advancing Cora. Sheffield flies out to right field.
Bottom of the third: Ad. LaRoche singles to left field. Church dives for a hit by Jones, but he misses it and it goes to the wall, giving Jones an RBI triple and the Pirates a 4-0 lead. An. LaRoche strikes out. Diaz doubles off the wall in left-center, and the score is 5-0 as Jones scores. Redding is pulled after the double.
Pat Misch comes in to face Vazquez. He gets him to ground out to second base as Diaz moves to third. Maholm grounds out to third as Misch limits the damage.
Final line for Redding: 2.1 IP 6 H 5 ER 2 BB 2 K
Top of the fourth: Tatis singles to right field. Church singles into center field. Evans singles to center field to load the bases for the Mets. Santos strikes out. Daniel Murphy pinch hits for Misch. Murphy comes through with a two-run single down the right field line that brings the score to 5-2. Castillo grounds into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Bottom of the fourth: Dessens is now pitching for the Mets, and he gets McCutchen to fly out to left field to start the inning. Wilson reaches on a walk. Dessens hits Young with a pitch. Ad. LaRoche grounds into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Top of the fifth: Cora doubles down the right field line to start the inning. Wright singles to right field after Young is unable to catch the ball on a diving attempt. Sheffield hits an RBI single up the middle, and the score is now 5-3. Tatis grounds into a fielder's choice, and the Mets now have first and third with one out. Church singles to right field, scoring Wright and making the score 5-4. After a visit to the mound, Evans singles to right field and Tatis scores to tie the game at 5-5. Maholm is now done.
Jeff Karstens relieves Maholm. He walks Santos to load the bases. Jeremy Reed pinch hits for Dessens, and he hits a sacrifice fly that scores Church and gives the Mets a 6-5 lead. Castillo flies out to right field to end the inning.
Final line on Maholm: 4.1 IP 11 H 6 ER 1 BB 1 K
Bottom of the fifth: Brian Stokes comes in to replace Dessens. Jones lines out to Stokes. An. LaRoche flies out to left field. Diaz grounds out to second as the Pirates go in order.
Top of the sixth: Cora pops up to first. Wright walks. Sheffield pops up to first. Tatis hits a two-run home run to right-center and the Mets now lead 8-5. Church flies out to left field.
Bottom of the sixth: Vazquez singles to left field. Jeff Salazar pinch hits for Karstens and flies out to right field. McCutchen strikes out on three pitches. Wilson pops up to third base.
Top of the seventh: Evan Meek replaces Karstens on the mound. Evans and Santos both ground out to second. Argenis Reyes pinch hits for Stokes and draws a walk. Reyes steals second base. Castillo walks. Cora grounds out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Bottom of the seventh: Pedro Feliciano is in for Stokes. Young strikes out looking, and after drawing a line in the dirt to show where the pitch was he is ejected. Ad. LaRoche grounded out to shortstop. Garret Jones homers to center field and the score is now 8-6. Feliciano is done.
Sean Green replaces Feliciano. An. LaRoche strikes out looking.
Top of the eighth: Steven Jackson comes in to pitch in a double switch that replaces the ejected Young with Brandon Moss. Wright grounds out to shortstop. Sheffield pops up to second base. Tatis doubles on a hit to the left-center gap. Church flies out to right field.
Bottom of the eighth: Fernando Martinez comes in to play center. Church shifts to right, and Sheffield is out. Diaz squares to bunt for a hit, but is hit with a pitch by Green. Vazquez grounds out to first. Green walks Moss. McCutchen grounds to shortstop, and Cora gets Diaz out going to third after Wright bails him out with a good pick-up. Wilson strikes out to end the inning.
Top of the ninth: Evans strikes out swinging. Santos snaps an 0-19 skid and doubles to center field. Brian Schneider pinch hits for Green and grounds into a fielder's choice on a poor base running play by Santos in which he tried to go to third on a ground ball to shortstop. Castillo walks and Jackson is done.
Jesse Chavez replaces Jackson and gets Cora to fly out to center field.
Bottom of the ninth: Francisco Rodriguez is in to pitch. Freddy Sanchez pinch hits for Chavez and hits an infield single to shortstop. Ad. LaRoche hits a two-run home run to center field, and the game is tied at 8-8. Jones, up a single shy of the cycle, grounds out to Castillo. An. LaRoche pops up to second base. Diaz singles on a ground ball between shortstop and third base. Vazquez singles on a ground ball to right field, and Diaz goes to third. Moss hits a hard line drive, but it is right at Castillo. We will head to extra innings.
Top of the tenth: Sanchez stays in to play second base, and Matt Capps comes in to pitch. Wright strikes out swinging. Martinez pops up to shortstop. Tatis is hit with a pitch for the second time today. Tatis steals second base. Church singles up the middle, and Tatis scores to make the score 9-8. Church goes to second on the throw. Evans grounds out to third.
Bottom of the tenth: K-Rod stays in to pitch the tenth, despite throwing 30 pitches in the ninth. McCutchen flies out to center field. Wilson strikes out swinging. Sanchez grounds out to shortstop, and the Mets hold on.
FINAL SCORE: 9-8 Mets
W- Rodriguez (2-2)
L- Capps (1-4)
Star of the game: Fernando Tatis 3-4 4 R 2 RBI 1 2B 1 HR 1 SB
The Mets survived a disaster, and instead got one of their biggest wins of the season. Give all of the credit to Tatis and Church, who picked up Redding after a terrible start. Also, gutty performance by K-Rod to bounce back and close it out.
New York will now head into Philadelphia on a two-game winning streak and will trail by two games in the division at the most.
-David Cassilo
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That's what Mike Pelfrey was saying Wednesday when asked about the tightness in his right triceps. Pelfrey kept trying to stretch on the mound, but insisted later that it was nothing to worry about. Yeah, right. With these Mets? Are you kidding?
