Saturday, May 31, 2014
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Brignac's Single Sends Phils Past Mets In 14

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[May 31, 2014]  PHILADELPHIA -- As Friday night's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets lurched past midnight, everyone's patience was growing short.

"Everybody was yelling at everybody then," Phillies third baseman Reid Brignac said with a laugh. "It was like, 'Come on, let's go. Hurry up. Somebody do it.'"

Brignac finally did, singling home the decisive run in the bottom of the 14th inning to lift the Phillies to a 6-5 victory.

"Good win," Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said. "The guys hung in and battled. It makes the night, and sleep, a little nicer."

Brignac, batting with the bases loaded and none out, lined an 0-1 pitch from reliever Jenrry Mejia (4-2) to the left field wall over a drawn-in outfield to score right fielder Marlon Byrd and end a five-hour, 23-minute marathon.

Brignac, a veteran utility infielder, made his first start for the Phillies. He was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 9.

"It was definitely one to remember for me," he said.
 


Byrd, leading off the inning, reached when right fielder Chris Young dropped his fly ball for a two-base error. Catcher Carlos Ruiz followed with a single off Mejia, the eighth New York pitcher. Pinch-hitter Cesar Hernandez, batting for winning pitcher Justin DeFratus, was intentionally walked, setting the stage for Brignac.

Young said the wind, which whipped up late in the game, was not a factor in his error.

"It was just a flub-up by me," he said. "I saw it dead, coming down. I just dropped it. I can't explain how it happened, but it cost us the game."

Mets manager Terry Collins said, "I feel terrible for anybody who drops a ball and costs his team. He caught up to it. He just dropped it."

It was the Phillies' second walk-off victory in three nights. First baseman Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3.

It was also the second walk-off hit of Brignac's career. He homered to beat the New York Yankees while playing for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010.

Left fielder Domonic Brown homered and drove in four runs for Philadelphia.

Right fielder Bobby Abreu, an ex-Phillie, drove in two runs for the Mets, who saw a three-game winning streak end. New York also lost for the first time in seven games in Philadelphia.

DeFratus (1-0), the seventh Philadelphia pitcher, picked up the victory by working two scoreless innings in relief. The Phillies' bullpen worked seven shutout innings.

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"That gave us a chance," Sandberg said.

Phillies starter A.J. Burnett went seven innings and allowed five runs and five hits while striking out 11 and walking six. It was the 33rd double-digit strikeout performance of his career and the first since he struck out 12 Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 21, 2013, while pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Mets' Rafael Montero, making his fifth major league start, lasted just 3 2/3 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits. He didn't strike out a batter and walked two.

The Mets scored three times in the second. First baseman Lucas Duda drove in the first run with a double. Another run came home on an infield out, and shortstop Ruben Tejada added an RBI single.

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley made it 3-1 when he drove in a run with a third-inning groundout to second, and an inning later Brown put Philadelphia ahead with a three-run homer. It was his fourth of the year, and came after Byrd walked and Ruiz singled.

New York regained the lead in the fifth at 5-4, courtesy of a two-run double by Abreu.

Brown knotted it when he drove in a run with a groundout in the fifth.

NOTES: Philadelphia reliever Mike Adams blanked the Mets for 1 1/3 innings, extending his scoreless-innings streak to 12 1/3. ... Former Phillie Bobby Abreu started in right field for the Mets. The 40-year-old Abreu played in Philadelphia from 1997 to 2006 and batted .303 for the Phillies. He went 2-for-4 and stole the 400th base of his career. ... Zack Wheeler and three relievers combined for 15 strikeouts and no walks in the Mets' 4-1 victory over the Phillies on Thursday, which according to the Elias Sports Bureau was only the fourth time in Mets history that their pitchers had at least 15 strikeouts without walking a batter.

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