During his time in New York, Ty Wigginton endeared himself to Mets fans with a penchant for the big hit and balls-to-the wall effort.
Though it has been nearly eight years since Wigginton left Flushing in the Kris Benson trade and he’s made many return trips to face New York, the well-traveled utility man hadn’t given Mets fans much to be mad about — until this year. Now a member of the rival Philadelphia Phillies, Wigginton unloaded on the Mets Monday afternoon, reaching base all five times he stepped to the plate and driving in six runs as the Phillies opened a three-game set at Citi Field with an 8-4 win over the Mets.
Wigginton’s big day backed a long but uneven performance by Philly’s Cole Hamels. Hamels went eight innings, but allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk. He also struck out six, oudueling New York’s Jon Niese. The victory for Hamels is his eighth, breaking a tie with R.A. Dickey for first in the National League.
The Mets sent Niese to the hill on Monday looking for another long effort after each of their last three starters had given the team at least seven innings. Niese was coming off a great outing of his own in Pittsburgh last Wednesday, but there was little carryover. Niese was OK over his first five innings, but incredibly inefficient. He walked four in the first five innings, but gave up just one hit, a two-run double to Wigginton which scored two players that Niese had walked.
Hamels kept the Mets off balance through the first four innings, but his day changed in the fifth. After a leadoff walk to Duda, Hamels’ 0-1 changeup caught too much of the plate and Vinny Rottino lined it over the new wall in left — his second home run in three games — to tie the game at two.
Niese talked his way into a sixth inning, running on fumes, his pitch count already at 106. The result wasn’t good as Niese walked Ty Wigginton — his fifth free pass of the game — and then gave up a two-run bomb to John Mayberry that broke a 2-2 tie. His line was ugly with five innings pitched, four earned runs and five walks despite allowing just two hits and striking out seven.
After Mayberry’s blast, the Mets tied it again in the sixth when Scott Hairston launched a two-out two-run blast off Hamels. Philadelphia, however, would not be denied a win and pushed one across against Parnell in the seventh. Rollins led the inning off with a single and though Parnell sandwiched two outs around a walk to Hunter Pence, Wigginton came through with a two-out single to center that delivered Rollins with the go-ahead run.
Wigginton put it out of reach in the ninth when he launched a three-run bomb off Manny Acosta to make it 8-4.
After getting the lead in the seventh, Hamels pushed through two more innings and handed the game over to Jonathan Papelbon, who locked it down in the ninth to get Philadelphia the win.
Turning Point: Bobby Parnell’s seventh inning wasn’t the worst inning we’ve ever seen out of him, but he wasn’t at his best either. Parnell seemed to lack the same approach to the inning that has been the trademark of his transformation from thrower to pitcher this year. Of Bobby’s 29 pitches in the inning, 27 were fastballs.
He varied between the two and four-seamers, but wasn’t fooling anyone. His 2-1 pitch to Rollins leading off the inning was a curve which Rollins guided just over the head of Daniel Murphy for a single. Afterward Parnell appeared to scrap the curve, throwing 19 straight heaters over the next four hitters. His walk to Pence came on a fastball that wasn’t close and after retiring Victorino on two pitches he went after Wigginton — a fastball hitter — with nothing but gas. Wigginton worked a 3-2 count, then lined a get-me-over fastball up the middle for an RBI single.
Game Ball: Vinny Rottino gets it for his clutch two-run blast in the fifth. Had Terry Collins not left Niese in to give Philly the lead right back in the sixth, Rottino’s homer could’ve been a turning point in the game.
Random Stache Moment: Justin Turner left the game in the fourth inning after injuring his leg in a run down to end the third. With Rob Johnson on second and two outs, Turner lined a single to right. Johnson was held at third late by third base coach Tim Teufel and Turner missed the stop sign, instead trying to proceed to second.
When the throw was cutoff, Turner got caught in a run down and pulled up lame on his way back to first before tumbling to the ground. The injury was reported as an ankle sprain on the broadcast, but I’ll be shocked if there’s not also a hamstring injury in there somewhere the way Turner pulled up.
Next Game: The Mets and Phillies resume their three-game set on Tuesday night at Citi Field. Jeremy Hefner (0-2, 6.17 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 8 K) makes his second major league start and hopefully this one won’t be disrupted by rain. Hefner will be opposed by Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton (4-4, 4.55 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 44 K). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and the game can be seen on SNY or heard, as always on WFAN 660 AM.
