Jason Bay’s 1st Inning Grand Slam
The Mets swept the Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon, defeating the fish by a score of 5-1. All of the Mets scoring was done in the first inning which included a Jason Bay grand slam.
Shortstop Ronny Cedeno led off the ballgame with a double, and second baseman Justin Turner followed with one of his own to shift Cedeno over to third base. David Wright then grounded out to former Met Jose Reyes as Cedeno crossed the plate to put the Mets up 1-0 with one out. Up next was Scott Hairston who popped up, followed by a walk to Ike Davis and Kelly Shoppach being hit by a pitch.
Up next was Bay who sent a 1-0 pitch to the very deep right-centerfield gap at Marlins park and just cleared the bright green wall to put the Mets up by five heading to the bottom of the first inning.
In the bottom of the first, both Bryan Petersen and Justin Ruggiano singled off of Mets right-hander Chris Young. But Young then settled down and got Reyes to ground out before striking out Giancarlo Stanton and getting Carlos Lee to fly out.
Both Young and Marlins starter Mark Buehrle settled down from the second through the fourth innings, and Buehrle got through the fifth with ease. Young was not so fortunate after walking the leadoff hitter, who was then sacrificed to second. Petersen flied out but Ruggiano doubled to chase home Rob Brantly to give the Marlins their first run of the game.
In the sixth inning, Buehrle pitched a 1-2-3 frame as did Mets reliever Bobby Parnell. The seventh went similarly as Buehrle allowed a leadoff double but then got Zach Lutz to line into a double play before retiring Cedeno. The bottom of the seventh went to Josh Edgin and faced only three batters to end the frame.
Ryan Webb came on in the top of the eighth and allowed a leadoff single to Turner, but got Wright to ground into a double play and retired Hairston via strikeout. Edgin walked the Petersen before making way for Jon Rauch who struck out two of the three batters he faced to retire the side easily.
In the top of the ninth former Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano came on to pitch and allowed a leadoff single to Ike Davis, before getting Shoppach by a fly out and Bay via strikeout, before getting Andres Torres to fly out to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
Frank Francisco came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth in a non-save situation and needed five pitches to retire Lee on a come backer to the mound, before getting Dobbs to pop out to Wright. Francisco got Donovan Solano to ground out to Turner to end the ball game and give the Mets the 5-1 victory and the sweep over their division rivals.
Earning the win was Chris Young (4-7; 4.48 ERA) who pitched five innings and allowed the one Marlins run on five hits while striking out three. Buehrle (12-12; 3.73 ERA) took the loss to fall to .500 on the season after allowing five runs on six hits over seven innings of work. The bullpen’s of both sides combined to pitch six scoreless innings, with four of the six coming from Met relievers.
Game Ball: Jason Bay gets this one after his first inning grand slam, to give him his seventh home run and 18 RBI on the season.
Up Next: The Mets play another day game tomorrow as they cross into the central time zone for the last time this season when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals in a Labor Day Matinee at Busch Stadium. Collin McHugh (0-0; 0.00 ERA) makes his second Major League start for the Mets, and will be opposed by fellow rookie Joe Kelly (4-6; 3.61 ERA) for the red birds.
