Kirk beamed up 2 home runs
The Mets survived a ninth-inning scare and outslugged the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 9-6 (Box Score), completing a 3-game sweep of the AL East powerhouse in St. Pete.
With an 8-4 lead, Bobby Parnell pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, and Tim Byrdak followed with a perfect eighth. The Mets went ahead, 9-4, on an Ike Davis RBI double in the top of the ninth.
But Miguel Batista couldn’t get out of the bottom of the ninth, as he allowed a one-out walk to Jose Lobaton, a bloop single to Elliot Johnson, and an RBI single to Desmond Jennings.
Frank Francisco (S, 16) entered in what was then a save situation. He induced a ground ball to Omar Quintanilla, playing out of position in the infield shift. Quintanilla tried to take the ball to second base himself, but arrived late, and another run scored. Francisco then blew away B.J. Upton on 3 pitches for the second out. Then he walked Hideki Matsui to load the bases, but he K-ed Ben Zobrist on a check swing to nail down the save. Frankie did a tremendous job under pressure.
Bats Remain Hot
The Mets’ offensive explosion against the Rays continued on Thursday afternoon, as they racked up 9 runs on 12 hits. Some of their production came from unexpected sources. Jason Bay hit his 4th home run of the year, and Ike Davis went 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Davis is now 8 for his last 14 with a homer and 7 RBI. It’s Ike’s first sustained hot streak of the season, and might be a sign of things to come.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off the game with his 4th bomb of the year, then added a 2-run opposite field shot in the fourth. Lucas Duda knocked in 3 runs (he now has a team-leading 40 RBI), and David Wright added 3 hits. In fact, the only Met to go hitless was Daniel Murphy.
In all, they tagged starter Jeremy Hellickson (L, 4-3) for 8 earned runs on 9 hits in 3.2 innings. The Mets did not strike out against Hellickson, who came into the game with a 2.65 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. Yesterday, the Mets scored 7 earned runs on 9 hits against David Price, who had a 2.40 ERA going in. 15 total runs against two of the top pitchers in the American League is an unqualified success for an offense that had been struggling of late.
Rauch Lifts Santana
Mets starter Johan Santana (W, 4-3) had trouble with his command once again, walking 4 batters, and leaving his changeup up in the zone too often. He danced through the raindrops, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs (all earned) in 5+ innings pitched. But the results could have been much worse.
In the sixth, Santana loaded the bases with nobody out. In from the bullpen came the embattled Jon Rauch. The other day, Dan Warthen said Rauch needs to throw his fastball more. Today, Rauch threw 8 fastballs and 6 sliders, which turned out to be a successful combination. He struck out Sean Rodriguez and Jose Lobaton, then got Elliot Johnson to ground out to third to end the inning. Rauch got the Mets out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation without allowing a run.
Up Next
The Mets begin a 3-game set with the Cincinnati Reds at home on Friday night at 7:10 PM.
15 comments
Stickguy
6/14/2012-5:04pm at 5:04 pm (UTC -4)
nice game by Kirk. must have seen all those posts recently about how he didn’t have enough power to play a corner!
and Rauch, that was huge. totally changed the dynamic of the game there. Hope he can do that a little more often.
and the 9th? Just a little excitement to keep the fans interested!
Oh, and i want to predict now, somewhere mid-season we are going to see Santana go on a little 15 day R&R break.
gategem
6/14/2012-5:37pm at 5:37 pm (UTC -4)
If Duda keeps on driving in runs then in the off season the Mets can trade him to Tampa Bay for a couple of five tool prospects.
Stickguy
6/14/2012-5:14pm at 5:14 pm (UTC -4)
also, as of right now, the Mets are back in the virtual playoffs! woo hoo!
darknova306
6/15/2012-12:01pm at 12:01 pm (UTC -4)
Virtual hurray!
srt
6/14/2012-5:14pm at 5:14 pm (UTC -4)
That was a lot more nerve racking in the 9th than it should have been. Batista?
Johan wasn’t sharp but give him credit for making the adjustments on the fly by what my eyes were telling me was a strike zone the size of a pencil eraser.
Great to see the offense come alive. Kirk with the 2HRs and Bay HR (weren’t we all surprised).
Ike and Duda and Wright. Man if this offense all comes alive at once we’ll be in good shape.
Good to see Rauch come in with the bases loaded and get the outs.
SWEEP! It’s all about Wins so losing that series over the weekend doesn’t sting quite as much now.
gategem
6/14/2012-5:39pm at 5:39 pm (UTC -4)
If you live in NY it does!
NJstuckinTX
6/14/2012-5:24pm at 5:24 pm (UTC -4)
If Ike can actually start to be an “average 1B hitting player”, what a glorious addition to this team! I don’t even need Votto numbers. Just Joe Schmoe everyday 1B hitter and I’d be fine.
Mr North Jersey
6/14/2012-6:42pm at 6:42 pm (UTC -4)
After going on the road for a 9-game road trip and losing 2 of 3 to the Nats followed by getting swept by the Yankees the Mets entered this series vs the AL East 1st place Rays at one of their lowest points all season.
How do they respond?
They outscore the Rays 29 to 9 and SWEEP the series ending the road trip on as strong a note as you can ask finishing 4-5 after getting off to a 1-5 start.
I mean on a day that Santana once again just did not have it the offense and the pen pick him up and get him a win.
Kirk with 2 shots & Bay with another. I mean how can you lose a game when Jason Bay homers when they are so few and far between?
Heck with the exception of Murphy every starter once again got at least 1 hit. No hit probably more important than that of Ike Davis. Whatever your doing Ike keep doing it.
Turning point in this game to me was Jon Rauch coming in and bailing out Santana from a bases loaded no out situation in the 6th. To say that was Huge is an understatement. In fact other than Batista making it interesting in the 9th the pen came in and did a shutdown job.
Now they are coming home for another tough set of games. Don’t know how far this will go but It’s been a heck of a ride so far.
LGM!
Mr North Jersey
6/14/2012-7:47pm at 7:47 pm (UTC -4)
Came across this article on the Marlins.
Apparently Bell can’t understand why fans are cheering for the Heat at a Marlins game.
“I know I got annoyed the last couple of times because it was ‘Let’s go He-eat!’ I was like, “Let’s go Marlins!” I was yelling back at them,’’ he said today.
“Let’s go Heat. I was like, ‘Wow, we could use some cheering like that.’
“I know the Heat is in the playoffs and trying to get a championship, and they’ll probably be like that with us when football starts. I understand fans are passionate but you’re at a baseball game.’’
Bell’s advice to Heat fans at Marlins Park?
“Cheer when they do something or once in while yell out the score, but cheer on us, too.’’
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/2012/06/12/marlins-players-can-hear-marlins-park-fans-cheering-for-the-heat/
Stickguy
6/14/2012-8:31pm at 8:31 pm (UTC -4)
wait, he is dumb enough to go to the marlins, and actually expect a large rabid fan base?
Prismo
6/14/2012-10:56pm at 10:56 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah gonna have to blame that on his picking to sign with the Marlins. Kind of well known that it isn’t the best fan base (although the Heat fanbase isn’t especially great either).
srt
6/15/2012-6:44am at 6:44 am (UTC -4)
What Stick and Prismo said.
If he’s the type of player that feeds off the fan base, he picked the wrong organization……
gategem
6/15/2012-11:42am at 11:42 am (UTC -4)
Neither Miami nor Tampa Bay support their baseball teams. Whether their respective teams win or lose is irrelevant. Florida is football country and there should not be a major league baseball team in that state. It just comes back to the league being stretched too thin.
NJstuckinTX
6/15/2012-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
Move one to Puerto Rico.
NJstuckinTX
6/15/2012-9:36am at 9:36 am (UTC -4)
Have we come to a consensus on Kirk’s nickname? Kapt? Kapt-K? House? Reginald?