7/1 Game Recap: Mets Top Arizona 5-4 in 13 Innings

Tonight at Citi Field, the Mets took on the Diamondbacks in the first of a four game series.

Jul 1, 2013; Flushing, NY,USA; New York Mets right fielder

(6) races the ball home past Arizona Diamondbacks catcher

(26) during the ninth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona got on the board right away, when Shaun Marcum drilled Aaron Hill before giving up a long home run to Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning.  Marcum appeared to have some trouble getting loose, and he allowed the Diamondbacks to plate another run in the third as they expanded their lead to 3-0.

Marcum settled in from there and departed after six solid innings, but the Mets were held off the board (despite having a small army of baserunners) until the seventh when David Wright lined an RBI single to left field.  That drew the Mets within 3-1, but John Buck popped out to strand runners on first and third.

In the 8th, the Mets cut the lead to 3-2 when Eric Young, Jr. ripped a two out RBI double down the right field line to drive in Omar Quintanilla.  After a wild pitch moved Young to third base, Daniel Murphy popped out to left field to end the inning.

The Mets then rallied to tie things up in the ninth. With one out, Marlon Byrd doubled high off the left center field wall off J.J. Putz, missing a home run by inches.  Josh Satin followed by lining a single to left field.  Third base coach Tim Teufel aggressively sent Marlon Byrd, who slid in safely with the tying run after Miguel Montero dropped the relay throw.  Following a John Buck walk, Juan Lagares popped to shallow right for the second out.  After Putz uncorked a wild pitch and Josh Satin moved to third base, John Buck (who’s run meant nothing) inexplicably tried to advance to second base.  He was thrown out to end the frame and send the game to extra innings.

Bobby Parnell pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, and Omar Quintanilla led off the bottom half with a single to right field.  Andrew Brown then bunted him to second base.  After Eric Young, Jr. grounded out to second (moving Quintanilla to third), Daniel Murphy flew out to right field to end the inning.  Bobby Parnell then tossed a scoreless 11th.

With David Wright on second and two outs in the bottom of the 11th, the Diamondbacks intentionally walked John Buck to force the Mets to use their last bench player, Anthony Recker.  After Recker walked, Omar Quintanilla came to the plate with the bases loaded.  Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson then replaced right handed reliever Chaz Roe with left hander Tony Sipp.  Quintanilla hit an absolute rope, but it was caught by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to send the game to the 12th.

David Aardsma worked around a leadoff single to keep the Diamondbacks off the board in the 12th, and Eric Young Jr. lined a one out single to center in the Mets’ half of the inning.  After Daniel Murphy struck out, Josh Collmenter replaced Tony Sipp on the mound and got David Wright to fly out to shallow center as the game moved to the 13th inning.

In the top of the 13th, David Aardsma, in his third inning of work, gave up a leadoff homer to Cody Ross as Arizona took a 4-3 lead.

The Mets refused to go quietly, as Josh Satin lined a one out double to right center in the bottom of the 13th.  Arizona then strangely elected to walk John Buck intentionally.  The Mets had no position players left and had to pinch hit with Matt Harvey, but walking Buck with just one out was an extremely odd move.  Terry Collins had Harvey bunt the runners over, and Arizona responded by walking Omar Quintanilla to load the bases and bring up Andrew Brown.  With the count 0-2, Brown lined a two run single to left center to give the Mets a 5-4 victory.

Highlights:

• Shaun Marcum settled in after struggling early.  He gave up 3 runs in 6 innings, walked 3 and struck out 2.

• David Wright stayed hot.  He had 2 more hits tonight, drove in a run, and walked twice.

• Carlos Torres tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.

• John Buck had a brutal night at the plate, going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks (2 intentional).  After drawing a walk with 2 outs in the 9th and the winning run on 2nd, Buck was thrown out trying to advance to 2nd base on a passed ball (after Josh Satin had advanced to 3rd).  That ended the 9th and sent the game to extra innings.

• Josh Satin tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th, and Andrew Brown won it with a two run single in the bottom of the 13th.

Thoughts:

This was a maddening game at times, but the Mets never gave up.  Down 3-0 heading into the seventh, they scored a single run in the seventh, eighth, and ninth to force extra innings.  The Mets had a chance to win the game every inning from the 10th to the 12th, but came up empty each time.  After Cody Ross led off the top of the 13th with a solo homer to put Arizona up 4-3, the Mets staged a rally in the bottom half of the inning, culminated by Andrew Brown’s two out, two strike game winning two RBI single to left center field.  This would’ve been a bitter game to lose.  Instead, the Mets persevered and got the victory.

Next Up:

The Mets and Diamondbacks play the second game of their series tomorrow night at 7:10 PM.  Jeremy Hefner gets the start for New York.  He’ll be opposed by Patrick Corbin.

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