[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.
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.
