Matt Harvey No Decision, Mets Win in 10
Well, Matt Harvey was never going to win all of his starts. He got a no decision Wednesday night as the Mets came back to tie the game with the Dodgers in the ninth inning and won it on a grand slam in the tenth inning by Jordany Valdespin.
Harvey allowed a run in the first inning on two singles and a ground out as the Dodgers took the early lead.
Soft tossing Ted Lilly, making his first start since last May, kept the Mets off balance until Harvey himself decided enough was enough. He led off the fifth with a double off the wall in the left field corner, just missing a home run. Ruben Tejada then sneaked a single down the first base line to score Harvey. Daniel Murphy followed with a single, but the Mets could not capitalize and the inning ended with the score tied at one.
With two out in the sixth Harvey walked Adrian Gonzalez. Matt Kemp hit a ball down the line in right that was initially ruled a triple, but the replay clearly showed that an usher sitting past the wall tried to catch the ball and it went back onto the field. It was correctly changed to a home run as the Dodgers regained the lead, 3-1.
Lilly left the game in the sixth, giving way to J.P. Howell. He walked the first two batters he faced, then Juan Lagares hit a ball up the middle that was a sure-fire double play. But Howell tipped it, slowing it down enough that the only play was at first. Howell was removed from the game in favor of Ronald Belisario, and with runners on second and third, Terry Collins decided to pinch hit for Harvey. Justin Turner flew out to center to cut the Dodgers lead to 3-2. Tejada grounded out to end the inning.
Harvey likely would have gone another inning had his turn at bat not come up. He threw 90 pitches over six innings, allowing three runs on four hits. He struck out seven and walked just one. His ERA skyrocketed to 1.54.
The bullpen threw three scoreless innings to keep the game close, and the Mets bats didn’t let that effort go to waste. Mike Baxter led off the ninth inning with a double. Tejada was asked to sacrifice (I really, really hate that play), so Baxter was on third with one out. Murphy hit a foul ball that third baseman Jerry Hairston, Jr. reached over a railing to catch for a great play and the second out. On the next pitch David Wright came through in the clutch, singling to right to tie the score at three and getting Matt Harvey off the hook. Wright was thrown out trying to steal to end the inning.
So it was on to extra innings. John Buck led off the tenth with a single and Ike Davis walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Marlon Byrd bunted (ugh) to advance the runners (not as bad a play as the ninth inning because the score was tied in the tenth, but still, I don’t like it). Lucas Duda was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought an outfielder in and played five drawn-in infielders. They could have played seven infielders because Valdespin launched one over the wall in right for a game winning grand slam.
Mets win 7-4.