LDN - Sports

Reynolds pushes Mets past Brewers in 11th

[June 11, 2016] MILWAUKEE -- Matt Harvey continued his impressive turnaround but it was Matt Reynolds wearing the hero cap for the New York Mets Friday at Miller Park.

Reynolds reached on a bases-loaded fielder's choice that drove in Asdrubal Cabrera with the go-ahead run, and Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect ninth as the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1.

"I've seen a lot of major league baseball games," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "That might be one of the wildest I've ever been involved in ... Baseball 101."

Cabrera started the inning with a leadoff single off Blaine Boyer (1-1) then moved to third on a double by Wilmer Flores. Boyer intentionally walked Kelly Johnson to load the bases and got his first out of the inning when Kevin Plawecki popped out to first baseman Chris Carter in foul territory.

That brought up Reynolds, who came on in the 10th inning.

Boyer threw a 1-0 slider to Reynolds, who ripped it right at Brewers shortstop Jonathan Villar. But Villar couldn't hold on to the ball, and instead of a possible inning-ending double play, had to settle for a force at second with the go-ahead run coming home.

"It was one of those sinking line drives," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "It's not as easy as a straight-at-you line drive; it was top-spinning pretty hard. Just a weird ball that was hit and he just wasn't able to make the play."

Milwaukee managed just three hits on the day, with two of them coming off Harvey, who went six innings and allowed just a run and two walks while striking out eight.

He breezed through the first two innings then ran into trouble in the third, allowing a leadoff walk to Aaron Hill. Hill would get to third as Harvey retired the next two batters and appeared to score when Villar singled off Harvey to Cabrera, whose throw home seemed to be just a step behind Hill.

Manager Terry Collins challenged the call, which was overturned following a 3 minute 1 second review. Counsell asked to make sure Plawecki wasn't blocking the plate on the play, and another 2:45 went by before the reversal was upheld.

Milwaukee finally got on the board in the fifth, when Kirk Nieuwenhuis tried and scored on Ramon Flores' sac fly to left.

"The fastball wasn't obviously coming out as great as it has been the last couple starts," Harvey said. "But I pretty much had everything else working and was able to keep them off balance and get us through six innings."

Harvey coasted through the rest of his start and Yeonis Cespedes took him off the hook with a game-tying solo home run to lead off the sixth.

"I thought his stuff was pretty good tonight," Collins said. "Even though he wasn't 97, 98, he threw the fastball up, his slider was good tonight, change up, later in the game, got real good. We saw a lot of swings and misses on his changeup. I tell you, his confidence is really starting to come back."

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Brewers shortstop Jonathan Villar (5) completes a double play after tagging out New York Mets second baseman Kelly Johnson (55) in the third inning at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets loaded the bases with nobody out against Jeremy Jeffress in the ninth but couldn't cash in. Milwaukee threatened in the bottom of the inning against Jim Henderson, but pinch-runner Keon Broxton was caught trying to steal third base.

The Mets escaped and finally came through in the 11th.

"Honestly, I thought it was a double-play and I was just standing right there waiting for them to make a decision," Reynolds said. "I got lucky that there wasn't a double-play. Never seen anything like that before. I was just making sure that I wasn't going to be out. It's tough to explain right now. I'm still trying to figure out what happened."

The late-inning theatrics wiped out another quality start from right-hander Junior Guerra, who went 6 2/3 innings and held the Mets to a run on five hits and three walks -- one intentional -- with a pair of strikeouts.

NOTES: The Brewers placed RF Domingo Santana on the disabled list Friday with soreness in his right elbow. It's the second DL stint of the season for Santana, who was sidelined from May 19 to June 3 because of a sore right shoulder. ... Milwaukee recalled OF Keon Broxton from Triple-A Colorado Springs to replace Santana. ... Mets 2B Neil Walker was out of the starting lineup Friday, still feeling sore after being hit in the chest by a line drive the night before. Kelly Johnson started in place of Walker against the Brewers. ... New York manager Terry Collins also gave OF Michael Conforto a night off Friday, with Alejandro De Aza getting the start in left field against the Brewers.

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