Beltran leads Mets to walk-off win
09/25/2008 10:44 PM ET
Beltran leads Mets to walk-off win
Victory moves club to one game behind Phils in NL East
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- On the threshold of a loss that might have left them with little
more than a mathematical chance of playing in the postseason, the Mets
stormed back from a three-run deficit in the final three innings to beat the
Cubs, 7-6, on Thursday night.
One inning after Ryan Church ad-libbed a slide to score the tying run, Carlos
Beltran lined a single off the glove of rookie first baseman Micah Hoffpauir
to score Jose Reyes from second base with the decisive run in a 7-6 victory
that moved the Mets to within one game of the idle first-place Phillies in
the National League East and assured them of at least a share of the lead in
the race for the NL Wild Card.
Beltran's two-out single followed an intentional walk to Carlos Delgado, with
Reyes on second. Reyes had led off the ninth with a single off losing pitcher
Kevin Hart.
The Mets had scored once in the seventh against Chad Gaudin on a double by
Robinson Cancel and twice in the eighth when Church avoided the tag of
catcher Koyie Hill. Their eighth appeared defused when Delgado grounded into
a double play. But Beltran and Church singled against Neal Cotts, and after
Bob Howry replaced Cotts, Ramon Martinez singled to left to score Beltran,
and Cancel singled to right, leaving the rest to Church.
The throw from right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, five feet up the third-base
line, beat Church to the plate, and Hill handled it cleanly. But Church
avoided his lunging tag and essentially crawled back to the plate after he
had passed it and tagged it.
Without that rally, the Mets' second victory in six games would have been a
loss charged to Pedro Martinez. He was charged with the first five runs. But
Ricardo Rincon's left hand played such a conspicuous role in what happened.
Martinez departed with the Cubs having scored three times. He had thrown 99
pitches. Rincon threw one, and Hoffpauir, a powerful left-handed-hitting
rookie first baseman, hit the ball well beyond the wall in right field --
into the Mets' bullpen appropriately enough.
It was hardly Hoffpauir's lone contribution. He had hit his first big league
home run in the first inning when Martinez endured what has become his
requisite first-inning trouble. In what may be his final season with the
Mets, Martinez has allowed 23 earned runs in 20 first innings. Hoffpauir also
doubled in a run in the third and led off the fifth with a single. There was
no surprise when manager Jerry Manuel jumped from the dugout in the seventh
before Hoffpauir got another chance to face Martinez. The rookie also singled
in the eight against Scott Schoeneweis.
Martinez had waved to the saturated crowd as he departed, as if he suspected
he might have pitched his last game for the Mets. He had allowed seven hits
and four walks and struck out nine, a season high for him.
The Mets had scored once in the first -- an unearned run driven in by David
Wright, who tied the club record for RBIs (124) -- against Rich Harden. They
tied the score in the fifth, when Church delivered a two-run double off
Harden, who pitched six innings.
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