7/4 Game Recap: Game For The Ages, But Mets Fall 5-4

With Independence Day celebrations in full swing, the Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks closed out their four game series Thursday afternoon. With the last two games being delayed by heavy rain, the teams and fans were overjoyed to see the sight of a sun-filled day. Dillon Gee took the ball against the ever controversial Ian Kennedy of the DBacks. In another long extra inning game between the two, the Mets fell 5-4.

Jul 4, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Dillon Gee (35) pitches during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the speedy Tony Campana reaching on a a Daniel Murphy error and then stealing second when Daniel Murphy dropped a short hop throw from catcher Anthony Recker, Gee worked out of the first with the help of a leaping grab by Murphy which turned into a double play when he threw out Campana at second. Gee induced a groundball from Paul Goldschmidt and the first inning was over.

After both Gee and Kennedy rolled through three innings, the Mets scratched out their first run of the game in the fourth. With one out David Wright doubled to left and reached third on a wild pitch. Marlon Byrd hit a ground ball to second base, but it was good enough to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

It wasn’t long before Arizona answered back and took their first lead of the game. After Cody Ross led off with a walk, Gerardo Parra drag bunted past the right side of the infield for an incredible bunt double. Wil Nieves followed that with a two-run single giving Arizona a 2-1 lead.

The Arizona lead did not last very long as the Mets plated home a run in their half of the fifth inning. Omar Quintanilla doubled to left field to start the threat. With two outs, Gee stepped up the plate an drilled an RBI single to center field to tie up the score. Eric Young, Jr. popped up to end the inning and the score was 2-2 heading to the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth the Mets threatened with a David Wright walk and Josh Satin two-out single. Anthony Recker came up with runners at first and second and worked a deep 3-2 count, fouling off four pitches. On the 10 pitch he was punched out on a high and inside fastball that appeared to be ball four, thus ending the threat.

Quintanilla led the bottom of the seventh with a walk and Andrew Brown came through with a one out pinch hit single. Young, Jr. hit a fly ball to center which moved the runners to second and third with two outs setting the stage for a struggling Daniel Murphy. Murphy got the count to 2-2 but was caught looking at a fastball at his knees to kill the rally.

LaTroy Hawkins came in for the eighth and struck out three in a row after giving up a single to Goldschmidt. Will Harris came in for Kennedy and got the Mets out easily with a 1-2-3 inning of work.

Bobby Parnell came on for the second straight day and got the DBacks out in order, recording two punchouts.

David Hernandez came on for the bottom half and sent the Mets down in order, and in a series of lengthy games, the final game somewhat fittingly went to extras.

Carlos Torres came on in relief and gave the Mets three shutout innings, giving them a chance to win it. The Mets had a golden opportunity in the 12th when David Wright came up with first and second with two outs. J.J. Putz got him to ground out to end the threat, however.

David Aardsma did not fair well in the 13th when he came in, as the Diamondbacks came through and took the lead. After he promptly loaded the bases, Aardsma walked Cody Ross on four pitches to give Arizona a 3-2. Josh Edgin came in and got a 3-2-3 double play. Brandon Lyon came in and gave up a hit, but Marlon Byrd gunned down Eric Chavez at the plate to end the inning.

With the Mets down to their last out in the thirteenth, Anthony Recker blasted a shot to left to tie the game and send it to the 14th inning.

Prado would give Arizona a 4-3 in the 14th with a bloop single to center. Although it seemed that game could be over, there were more twists and turns as the Mets would tie it on a Nieuwenhuis solo homer off of Chaz Roe. The Mets had Young and Wright on with two outs but Marlon Byrd went down looking to send it to the fifteenth.

Scott Rice came in and got two outs quickly. However they got three straight singles with Cliff Pennington giving Arizona the lead again, this time 5-4.

The Mets got two runners on against Brad Ziegler in the 15th, but Jordany Valdespin and Nieuwenhuis grounded out to end the game.

Notes

> Dillon Gee pitched another gem, going seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits, while striking out seven.

> Up until Aardsma gave up a run, the bullpen looked strong for the Mets, going five scoreless innings.

> Josh Satin continues to hit at first base, getting a hit to continue his now 10 game hitting streak.

> Daniel Murphy has been struggling a bit at the plate recently, going three for 13 in the series against Arizona.

> John Buck came up with a pinch hit chance and stuck out on a check swing and eventually was ejected. He’s now hitting .205.

> This was the Mets 10th extra inning game of the year, tying their season total from last year.

> Brandon Lyon continues to struggle. His ERA the past week is an astronomical 37.80. He gave up three hits and one run today.

> This was the first time since 2006 that the Mets hit multiple homers in extra innings. The last were Lastings Milledge and Jose Valentin.

Thoughts

It was an up and down game,that seemed to just twist and turn at every chance. Dillon Gee pitched very well and had a tough matchup in the former 20 game winner in Kennedy. The bullpen looked sharp until Aardsma and Lyon came into the game. It’s tiring seeing Lyon and Buck used in games at all at this point. The two teams played some excruciatingly long games in this series and this one wasn’t different. I admire the Mets fight but they missed plenty of opportunities to win the game.

Next Up

The Mets have a lengthy road trip ahead of themselves which will start this weekend against the last place Brewers.

Zack Wheeler will be set to make his fourth major league start against Milwaukee’s Johnny Hellweg.