Sunday, April 27, 2014

Game of the Day (4/26/14)

There were six one-run games yesterday, including a pair of extra-inning duels. The best of the bunch was Marlins 7, Mets 6 (10), with Miami's Kevin Slowey taking on New York's Jenrry Mejia.

Mejia got the game off to a clean start, inducing a trio of first-inning groundouts. The Mets then seized the lead in the bottom of the first when Eric Young Jr. singled, moved to third on a steal-and-error, and scored on David Wright's sacrifice fly. (This extended Wright's all-time Met lead in sac flies; he also heads the Met leaderboard in almost every other significant offensive category.) The lead grew larger when Daniel Murphy singled and Bobby Abreu cracked his first major league homer since September of 2012.

Miami narrowed the gap slightly in the second on singles by Casey McGehee, Garret Jones, and Derek Dietrich. Slowey worked around a leadoff double by Travis d'Arnaud in the bottom of the second, but Mejia threw a 1-2-3 third and the Mets extended their lead in the bottom of the inning as Curtis Granderson and Murphy walked, Abreu's groundout moved them to second and third, and Lucas Duda singled them both home for a 5-1 edge.

Mejia allowed a leadoff hit to McGehee in the fourth, then retired six consecutive Marlins. Slowey was spotless in the fourth, and after he was pulled for an unsuccessful pinch hitter in the top of the fifth, Brad Hand replaced him and retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the inning.

The sixth finally got the Marlins back into the game, starting with a Marcel Ozuna double and a two-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton. McGehee singled for the third time in the game, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked to put the tying runs on base. Jones lined out and Dietrich grounded into a force at second, but Adeiny Hechevarria singled to score McGehee. Mejia was lifted for Carlos Torres, and Reed Johnson hit for Hand and stroked a go-ahead two-run double to give Miami its first lead.

Dan Jennings took the mound in the bottom of the inning and promptly blew that lead, walking d'Arnaud, who moved to second on a passed ball, and allowing a game-tying RBI single to Omar Quintanilla. Jeurys Familia allowed only a walk in the top of the seventh, while Jennings was flawless in the bottom. Scott Rice and Daisuke Matsuzaka combined on a baserunner-free top of the eighth, and Mike Dunn did the same on his own in the bottom of the inning.

Both teams finally put runners on in the ninth, though not with hits - Donovan Solano and Ozuna drew walks from Matsuzaka, and Chris Young was plunked by Dunn. None of the runners scored, although the Miami pair did make it to second and third before being stranded.

The game progressed to extras, and remained tied for all of five pitches. Kyle Farnsworth's sixth offering was belted for a solo homer by Saltalamacchia, and Steve Cishek walked Wright but retired the other three Mets he faced in order to secure the save.

Miami won this game thanks to six magnificent innings from its bullpen - one hit, two walks, one unearned run and seven strikeouts. Even the single run the Mets managed was a small miracle of sequencing combined with a Saltalamacchia passed ball. With relief work like that giving the team an effectively indefinite tie, the offense was bound to break through eventually, and it did, with Salty atoning for his earlier miscue and producing the winner.

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