R.A. Dickey scoring the Mets’ second run
The New York Mets lost the last-ever regular season inter league game of this particular variety as Major League Baseball will see a drastic shift next year. The Mets fell by the score of 6-5 as a late inning home run off the bat of Robinson Cano was the difference in the game.
The pitching matchup featured a pair of aces as R.A. Dickey took on C.C. Sabathia on Sunday evening, and both pitchers lived up to the hype in the first inning as Dickey threw nine pitches to retire the side and Sabathia allowed a two-out single to David Wright before getting Scott Hairston out.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the third when the Yankees got four runs around on Dickey to end his earned run scoreless inning streak. Curtis Granderson walked with one out, followed by a single off the bat of Alex Rodriguez and another walk to Cano. Mark Teixeira got the first run in with a sacrafice fly in front of Nick Swisher’s three run home run that cleared the new fence in right centerfield.
In the bottom of the inning the Mets scratched across one of their own as Andres Torres reached then stole second and moved to third as the ball was thrown into centerfield. The next batter was fresh-off-the-DL Ruben Tejada who hit a fly ball to the outfield for a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-1.
Both teams scored once more each in the fifth inning, starting with Granderson once again as he was hit by a pitch and then moved to second on Dickey’s first wild pitch of the season. Cano singled to move him to third before Teixeira allowed him to score with a groundout. The Mets responded as Dickey notched a one-out hit as the Mets brought him in from base hits off the bats of Tejada and Wright to make it 5-2.
Dickey set down the side 1-2-3 in the sixth, and then it was time for the Mets offense to take over in the bottom of the inning. Justin Turner reached on a one out error, and Ronny Cedeno singled and was replaced after Thole hit into a fielder’s choice. Vinny Rottino walked to load the bases before Torres singled to score a pair of runs, Tejada followed with a base hit of his own to score Rottino and tie the game at five.
Wright walked to load the bases but Kirk Nieuwenhuis struck out to end the bases loaded threat in the inning. In the top of the seventh Dickey was pulled in favor of Miguel Batista who went 1-2-3, as Boone Logan did the same in the bottom of the inning after replacing Cory Wade.
With Tim Byrdak up in the bullpen and ready to go, Terry Collins decided to stay with Batista to face the Yankees’ best hitter Robinson Cano who launched a leadoff home run over the Home Run Apple in centerfield to put the Yankees back on top at 6-5. Batista got three of the next four batters to end the eighth. Torres reached with two outs in the bottom of the inning and stole second and advanced to third on a balk but Tejada wasn’t able to tie the game.
Bobby Parnell came on to pitch the ninth and got the Yankees out in order including a strike out of Eric Chavez who pinch hit for David Robertson, which then brought in Rafael Soriano to pitch the bottom of the ninth. Soriano struck out Wright, and got pinch hitter Daniel Murphy to line out, Lucas Duda kept the game alive with a single but pinch hitter Ike Davis flew out to right field to end the game.
Game Ball: Andres Torres, he seems to perform well on Sunday Night Baseball after his performance against St. Louis and now the Yankees, let’s hope he can keep it up next Sunday against the Dodgers.
Up Next: The Mets hop on a plane and head to the “Windy City/Chi-Town/The North Side” to square off with the Chicago Cubs, a series which includes two rare night games. Tomorrow’s game begins at 8:05 p.m. as a battle of left-handers pits Johan Santana (5-3) against Travis Wood (1-3).
