Jon Niese came back from an awful outing in his last start and had a great one against the Giants on Wednesday evening. In seven innings, Niese struck out five, walked two, and allowed just one run on a solo home run by Buster Posey in the sixth inning. He threw 105 pitches, 67 of which were strikes.
At the plate, the Mets had many opportunities to score, but they only plated two runs on the night. Ruben Tejada started the game with just the second home run of his big league career. Tejada just missed a home run during Tuesday evening's game, and his solo shot just made it over the left field fence to put the Mets on top early.
In the second inning, the Mets scored a run on a bases-loaded ground out by Jordany Valdespin, but that was it for the offense. Luckily, Niese pitched as well as he did, and the bullpen was perfect in the eighth and ninth innings. Tim Byrdak retired the only batter he faced, Jon Rauch got the next two, and Bobby Parnell pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the deal.
The Mets look to take the four-game series tomorrow at 3:00 pm EDT. Chris Young gets the start for the Mets, while Barry Zito, the closest player the Giants have to a Jason Bay, starts for San Francisco.
SB Nation Coverage
* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* McCovey Chronicles Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Jon Niese, +25.1% WPA, Ruben Tejada, +17.2% WPA
Big losers: Josh Thole, -11.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ruben Tejada’s leadoff home run, +12.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Buster Posey’s solo home run in the sixth, -12.8% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +49.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +0.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Jordany Valdespin