Mets rally early, lose on a walk-off

Mets lose on walkoff, Reds celebrate

By: Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Cincinnati, OH (May 5) – The New York Mets were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 5-4.  It was the second game in this series that they lost on a walk-off home run.  The Mets rallied in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings but then lost on an Orlando Cabrera home run in the tenth inning. 

Pedro Feliciano picked up the loss; Jon Niese made the start and pitched six innings.  He gave up 12 hits and four runs but didn’t walk a batter and struck out four.  Hisanori Takahashi pitched three perfect innings picking up four strikeouts.

The Mets struck first in this game taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning.  The Reds would take a 2-1 lead in the fourth on five singles that produced the two runs.  The Mets would tie the game in the fifth inning on a Jose Reyes groundout.  Brandon Phillips and Jonny Gomes would hit solo home runs in the fifth inning to give the lead back to the Reds. 

David Wright hit his seventh home run in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 4-3.  The Reds would try to close out the game with a one-run lead in the ninth but the Mets would tie it with a leadoff single by Frank Catalanotto, a sacrifice bunt by Luis Castillo, single by Angel Pagan and a sac fly by Jeff Francoeur.  The Reds would go in order in the bottom of the ninth and the Mets would go in order in the tenth to set up the heroics by Orlando Cabrera.

 Cabrera hit the walk-off home run off Pedro Feliciano in the bottom of the tenth.  The Mets road trip ended at a disappointing 2-4 but easily could have been 4-2 with some timely hitting and a little bit of luck.  Jerry Manuel said, “to some degree we have pitched well, played good defense.  The base running has been good.  We just haven’t had that big hit to break it open or put us on top.”  Jason Bay was 0-14 in the series but the Mets hit pretty well overall.

The Mets who had a great home stand have not shown that they can win on the road.  The Mets are not going to win 90 percent of their games at home so in order to be a good team they have to pick it up on the road.  The Mets have lost four games in extra innings and three on walk-offs already this season.  They have also lost four other games by two or fewer runs. 

In order to be a championship contender those games need to be won.  The Mets have not shown that they are capable of doing it to this point especially on the road.  The Mets will have a day off tomorrow and then start a three game weekend series against the San Francisco Giants.

Posted by gmarchesej on May 5, 2010. Filed under Mets,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.