After cruising through the first seven innings, thanks to the tremendous effort by Matt Harvey, the Mets headed into the top of the eighth inning ahead by a score of 3-0.
Terry Collins turned to righthander Carlos Torres to preserve Harvey’s gem, but it was quickly apparent that he didn’t have it and before you knew it, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded with one out and the dangerous Jose Bautista was coming up to bat.
With the game on the line, in comes Bobby Parnell to replace Torres and to get the Mets out of this mess with as little damage as possible. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Parnell quickly got Bautista to lift a shallow fly to Curtis Granderson in right, but the runner on third, Ryan Goins, tagged up and scored the first Toronto run. Everybody runs on Grandy.
Edwin Encarnacion then stroked a single to left as Jose Reyes hustled home to bring the Blue Jays within one run of tying the game. But give Parnell a ton of credit, as he bore down and struck out Chris Colabello to end the inning with the Mets up 3-2. Only three more outs to go.
With the Mets failing to add any insurance runs, Parnell was back in familiar territory, pitching in the ninth and hoping to preserve a one run lead. Remarkably, it was old hat for the former Mets closer who pitched a perfect frame and in doing so he earned his first save since July 30, 2013.
“It’s a good welcome back,” Parnell said after the game. “It felt good to get that out of the way.”
“I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time. It took a lot of hard work. A lot of people helped me along the way and I can’t thank them enough.”
With Jeurys Familia unavailable to pitch, Parnell stepped up and delivered in a huge spot for the Mets. This was a very clutch five-out save. He even hit 94 and 95 mph on the gun. Awesome!
The significance of having an effective Bobby Parnell in the back of that bullpen along with fire-baller Jeurys Familia cannot be understated. This is huge. This is tremendous. Let’s hope Parnell continues to improve and get back, at least partly, to the shutdown reliever he once was.
