Night Cap: Hefner And Familia Shut Out Pirates

Looking ahead to 2013, Jeremy Hefner may not fit into the Mets' pitching staff in any capacity. For now, though, it's one appearance at a time for Hefner, who rebounded from one of the worse starts the Mets have seen in a while with seven shutout innings against the Pirates on Wednesday night. He struck out seven and walked one in the outing and made it look fairly easy all the while. Pittsburgh may not be that great of a team, but the Phillies weren't exactly contenders in his last start, either, so it's still good to see Hefner look better.

The Mets didn't accomplish much of anything at the plate in the first or the second, but Ruben Tejada got things started with a one-out single and a stolen base in the third. Daniel Murphy singled to score Tejada, and David Wright hit an infield single — breaking the Mets' franchise record for hits — to keep things going. Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez picked up the slow-rolling ball and fired it past the base at first, an error which allowed Murphy to score. Scott Hairston then doubled to plate Wright, and one out later, Kelly Shoppach singled to score Hairston. The Mets were up four-to-zip.

In the fourth, Andres Torres led off with an infield single before Hefner sacrifice bunted to move him to second. Tejada singled again to bring him home and put the Mets up by five. And in the sixth inning, Torres led off with a single again, Hefner bunted him over again, and Tejada singled to bring him home again for the Mets' sixth and final run of the game.

Jeurys Familia set the side down in order in the eighth inning with one strikeout, and although he looked much shakier in the ninth, he completed a second scoreless frame to finish the game.

The Mets player their final home game of the season tomorrow at 1:10 pm as R.A. Dickey attempts to earn his twentieth win of the season.

SB Nation Coverage

* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Bucs Dugout Gamethread

Win Probability Added

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Big winners: Jermey Hefner, +23.2% WPA, Ruben Tejada, +10.1% WPA
Big losers: Lucas Duda, -3.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: David Wright's record-setting single and the ensuing error, +11.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Kelly Shoppach strikes out in the second, -3.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +23.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +26.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Daniel Murphy