Mets newcomer Kelly Shoppach delivers a clutch bases clearing single in the ninth to crash the Marlins’ beach party… Oh yeah, baby…
Wow, what a game!
The Mets combined a solid start by Jeremy Hefner with a huge ninth inning rally and a clutch save by Frank Francisco to stun the Miami Marlins by a score of 5-3 on Saturday night.
After Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen pulled his ace Josh Johnson while in the midst of a three-hitter, the Mets came roaring back from the dead to score four runs in the ninth inning to wipe out a two-run deficit and take a two run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Francisco came in and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to clinch the victory and guarantee another series win for the Mets.
Thank you Ozzie, you have a friend in me… 🙂
Young righthander Jeremy Hefner, fresh off his solid start against the Astros, was in command tonight and delivered another quality start while holding the Marlins in check. Hefner threw six innings and gave up two runs on six hits while striking out four. He didn’t factor into the decision, but kudos to the kid for a job well done.
The Mets couldn’t muster much against Josh Johnson and the decision by Ozzie Guillen to pull him after eight strong innings would come back to bite him on the caboose.
Here comes the pain…
Daniel Murphy and David Wright got things started in the ninth with back-to-back singles against Marlins closer Steve Cishek. Lucas Duda steps up and drove in the first of four runs with with a one-out single, but it was newly acquired catcher Kelly Shoppach who delivered the fatal blow – a bases-loaded single to center field that cleared the bases.
Watching Shoppach chug to third base on the misplayed line-drive was quite the sight to see, but as he said later on in the postgame, “I’m a two base player, two bases man, that’s my max”. Freaking awesome!
The Mets were only 2-for-7 with RISP tonight, but oh how remarkable those two hits were. 🙂
The team continues to show some spirit and have now ensured their third straight series win. By my unofficial count, this is the third time Shoppach came up big for the Mets in the short times he’s been here. Sign him up for backup duties next season…
Newsflash! Mets catcher Josh Thole ended an 0-for-30 drought tonight with a single. His battery-mate Jeremy Hefner made light of it afterward and said, “I think he asked for the ball.” That’s too funny…
The Mets will look for the sweep tomorrow afternoon as Chris Young faces off against the Marlins’ Mark Buehrle at 1:10 pm.
Come on we can do it…
