Matt Cain might have made the Mets look like a minor-league through the first eight innings of this ballgame, but they played like a team with some real heart in the ninth to walk away with the win. The Mets came from four runs down for the first time this entire year tonight when a Josh Satin two-run single in the ninth allowed the Mets to walk-off with pride.
Yeah, neither team was playing for anything out there tonight, but like I said — pride is a factor, and it showed with our Mets out there. Aaron Harang started this game and didn’t do so well — getting knocked around for four runs over five innings. Only three of them were earned, however, as an Andrew Brown drop in the fourth allowed a run to cross the plate. Brown had a nasty collision with Ruben Tejada later in the game as well, with Tejada tripping over his extended leg by accident…not the best night in the office for Brown. Harang was tagged for a two-run home run by Gregor Blanco in the top of the third but worked his way out of trouble for the most part.
The bullpen behind him, however, was nothing short of spectacular. The Mets ‘pen put together four straight hitless innings with six strikeouts, courtesy of Carlos Torres, David Aarsdma, and Vic Black. Black improved to 2-0 after earning his second straight win with a scoreless inning before a walk-off. Torres struck out the side in the seventh and Black looked dominant in the ninth, by the way.
A throwing error by Buster Posey set up a Josh Satin sacrifice fly in the eighth to get the Mets an unearned run, and after Black’s aforementioned scoreless frame, the stage for set for a New York Mets comeback.
Andrew Brown and Juan Lagares were walked, leaving men on first and second with one out for the rookie duo of Zach Lutz and Juan Centeno — who doubled and singled, respectively, and drove in a run each. After Matt den Dekker walked to load the bases, Omar Quintanilla failed to score him with a lazy fly ball into right field. Josh Satin had his back, however, and ripped a single into left field to plate the tying and game-winning runs.
Juan Centeno, for what it’s worth, called a good game in his first MLB start and looked solid behind the plate. His RBI single in the ninth was an opposite field liner and his second of the game — so I can walk away saying I was very impressed with him tonight. The Mets will send Jon Niese to the mound tomorrow to wrap up the two-game set with the Giants against Madison Bumgarner.
Update: Terry Collins announced that Ruben Tejada has a broken fibula and will miss the rest of the year…
