Mets 2 – Nationals 1
In the bottom of the ninth at Shea last night, Paul Lo Duca hit a comebacker to the mound. But for the Mets, it was a walk-off game-winner.
The catcher came to the plate with Endy Chavez on second and Jose Reyes on first with one out and the game tied 1-1. On the first pitch against Washington reliever Gary Majewski, Lo Duca hit the ball back to the mound.
“When I hit it, I thought it was a base hit up the middle,” Lo Duca said. “And then he snared it and my first reaction was, ‘Oh, no.’ ”
He shouldn’t have been so negative. Majewski threw the ball toward second, but it sailed high and glanced off shortstop Royce Clayton’s glove and into center – bringing in Chavez for a 2-1 Met win.
“I think, if you look at it, it didn’t look like anybody was covering the base. I think there was a little indecision,” Lo Duca said. “It’s all about placement. So I guess I hit it in the right spot.”
The right spot was Shea last night for two other Mets who broke out of slumps – Victor Zambrano and, to a lesser extent, Carlos Delgado. Zambrano issued his best start of the year so far, while Delgado ended an 0-for-15 drought with a game-tying solo homer in the sixth.
Zambrano had not pitched since April 23, so he was on seven days rest. Zambrano had posted a 9.64 ERA in his first three outings.
“We’re going to give him an opportunity,” GM Omar Minaya said before the game, “but like anything else, there comes a time when he has to perform.”
Zambrano performed last night. The right-hander went six innings for the first time this season, allowing just one run on five hits and two walks.
“We’re going to need him to win,” Lo Duca said. “And I told him that. . . . And he did it tonight. He threw the ball well.”
Willie Randolph, who earned his 100th managerial win, said before last night’s game, “The bottom line is that . . . whether it’s [Steve] Trachsel or Victor or [Brian] Bannister, those guys who pull up the very end of your bullpen, they have to produce because . . . you can always bring somebody else if they’re not doing the job.”
After putting two on in the first inning last night, Zambrano eased out of trouble and threw scoreless second and third innings. In the fourth, though, he walked Nick Johnson, who then stole second and scored on Brian Schneider’s single up the middle to put the Nationals up 1-0.
Met hitters squandered opportunities in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but they finally tied it in the sixth against starter Ramon Ortiz. Delgado, hitless since the fifth inning last Wednesday, blasted an opposite-field shot off the black retired numbers area past the left-field fence as Shea erupted.
The Met bullpen tossed three scoreless innings – including another from Duaner Sanchez (17 scoreless this year), whom Lo Duca called “our MVP.”
Then, with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Julio Franco walked as a pinch-hitter, and Chavez ran for him. Reyes then grounded a single to left, putting men on first and second for Lo Duca’s winning comebacker.