Jeremy Hefner Solid, Mets Beat Diamondbacks

In his five starts in June, Jeremy Hefner pitched to a 1.80 ERA. He was only 1-1 because somehow he was victimized by nine unearned runs. As the calender turns to July, Hefner has picked up where he left off last month with another fine start Tuesday as the Mets beat the Diamondbacks.

Anthony Recker broke a scoreless tie in the fifth with a solo home run off of Arizona starter Patrick Corbin to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Martin Prado tied the game at one in the seventh with a solo shot of his own into the Party City Deck.

David Wright led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Marlon Byrd followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Josh Satin then hit a shot into the left-center gap. Center fielder A.J. Pollock dove but it hit off of his glove and it went for a double for Satin. Wright scored to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, but Byrd had to hold up and only made it to third. Corbin walked Andrew Brown to load the bases.

It was at this point that the umpires delayed the game because of rain. It started raining in the top of the sixth, but it never let up and finally the tarp came on.

So they picked up the game with the bases loaded and no outs after an hour and 40-minute delay. Corbin, who came into the game with a 9-0 record, was gone, replaced by Brad Ziegler. Anthony Recker greeted him with a single to make it 3-1. With the bases still loaded, Omar Quintanilla singled to plate two runs to make it 5-1. Eric Young later doubled and Juan Lagares singled to extend the lead to 8-1.

Jeremy Hefner obviously could not come back after the delay. He went seven innings, allowing one run on four hits. He struck out six and walked two. His ERA fok the season stands at a 3.54 to go along with a 3-6 record.

The Mets added a run in the eighth inning and went on to win 9-1.