Despite a pretty poor start by Mike Pelfrey and a series of questionable managerial moves by Terry Collins, the Mets got took the weekend series from the Nationals.
Before Big Pelf got into trouble, however, the Mets took a lead in the top of the third inning. Josh Satin, making his big league debut, singled to lead off the inning, and Mike Nickeas singled, too. Pelfrey bunted them both over, and Ruben Tejada, filling in at the top of the lineup to give Jose Reyes a day off, singled to bring home both runners.
If there's one thing that everyone should know by now about Pelfrey, he's very dependent on luck and defense. If he mixes in a few walks and doesn't have both of those things working in his favor, it's a perfect recipe for a disaster of an outing.
In the fourth, Pelfrey walked Jayson Werth to start the inning and allowed a single to Rick Ankiel. Danny Espinosa hit a fly ball to right field that should have been an out, but it sailed over the flailing glove of Lucas Duda. Werth scored easily, and Ankiel advanced to third while Espinosa pulled in at second. A Chris Marrero ground out tied the game, and a Wilson Ramos double put the Nationals ahead 3-2.
Pelfrey escaped the fourth inning and got a quick pair of outs in the fifth inning before he nearly put the game out of reach for the Mets with three consecutive two-out walks to load the bases. Terry Collins may not have a ton of options in the bullpen, but he called upon Ryota Igarashi, the reliever who Mets fans would probably least prefer to pitch in a bases-loaded situation. But the move worked, as Igarashi got a pop up to short to end the inning with the Mets still in the game.
The bats came alive again in the sixth inning, beginning with an absolute bomb of a home run by Lucas Duda to tie the game at three. David Wright, Angel Pagan, and Jason Bay each singled to load the bases, putting an end to Livan Hernandez's afternoon. With Todd Coffey coming in to pitch, Collins pinch hit for Josh Satin with Willie Harris, an unpopular move, to say the least. But once again, the move worked. Harris drilled a groundball single down the right field line to score give the Mets a two-run lead. To top it off, Collins called for a suicide squeeze with Mike Nickeas at the plate, and he laid down a perfect bunt to allow Bay to score easily from third base.
That was the last run of the game for the Mets, but the bullpen didn't allow the Nationals to score, either. Josh Stinson threw two scoreless innings, Jason Isringhausen threw one, and Bobby Parnell got the save, allowing only a two-out walk before putting an end to the game.
SB Nation Coverage
* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Federal Baseball Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Willie Harris, +19.8% WPA
Big losers: Mike Pelfrey, -21.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Willie Harris two-run single in the sixth, +19.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Danny Espinosa rib-eye double in the fourth, -19.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +3.5% WPA
Total batter WPA: +46.5% WPA
GWRBI!: Willie Harris
Game Thread Roll Call
Nice job by Shea Strausman; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.
Num | Name | # of Posts |
---|---|---|
1 | Shea Strausman | 129 |
2 | MetsFan4Decades | 123 |
3 | BurleighGrimes | 94 |
4 | Russ | 83 |
5 | Spike Davis | 81 |
6 | netsareboss | 59 |
7 | aparkermarshall | 59 |
8 | KeithsMoustache | 56 |
9 | Steve Schreiber | 50 |
10 | bigdumbmets | 37 |