New York – The New York Mets (40-30) returned to Citifield in fine fashion defeating the Detroit Tigers (38-31) by the score of 14-6 in a wet and wild game. As at one point things were delayed fifty eight minutes due to a downpour, as the Mets were able to pour in some key hits and runs against one of the American League’s best pitchers in righty Justin Verlander.
Centerfielder Angel Pagan had a great day at the plate going four-for-six matching a career-high in hits tonight while also driving in four RBI. Also having a good night for the Mets offensively was Ike Davis who was three-for-six while driving in three runs.
“Angel has been playing extremely well for us,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said after the game. “He got big hits for us tonight, he hit that fastball for a triple and he’s just played extremely well.”
Mets starter Jonathon Niese had a great start but could not hold on to get the win. Niese pitched a three inning shutout before finding trouble in the fourth inning. Relief pitcher Fernando Nieve had a solid outing in getting his second win of the season going 2 and one-third innings striking out four batters while only giving up one walk. The rest of the Mets bullpen was solid as well as Bobby Parnell who made his 2010 Mets debut this evening had a scoreless eighth inning striking out two batters.
“Nieve looked really well out on the mound the last two outings,” Manuel said. “He has pitched very well for us; he was really able to stretch out a couple of innings for us and gave us a chance to score runs which was huge.”
New York got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the first inning as Jose Reyes hit a leadoff infield single. Pagan ripped a triple (5) to center field. David Wright plated the second run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
In the bottom of the third was a huge one for the Mets as they were able to plate eight runs and bat around the order. Wright started the offense that inning with a walk. Ike Davis continued with a single to left-center field. Jason Bay plated the third run by scorching a double to the exact same spot. That was when the rain began to pour along with more Mets runs as Tigers Pitcher Jay Sborz making his Major League Debut in the worst possible manner by hitting both Rod Barajas and Jeff Francoeur to plate the fourth run. Ruben Tejada hit into a fielder’s choice play which plated the fifth run. Back-to-back singles by Reyes and Pagan continued the inning for the Mets, while Pagan plated two more runs. Wright would bat for the second time this inning and cashed in with a single to center field. The Tigers would call in Brad Thomas to try to shut down the offense, but it would not work out as Davis would plate two more runs by ripping a double to left field to plate the final two runs and make the score 10-0 in favor of the Mets.
The top of the fourth inning was when Niese the perfect game was spoiled, as Miguel Cabrera ripped a double (20) to right-center field for the first Tigers hit. Brennan Boesch hit a home run (11) to right-center field to cut into the lead. In the bottom half of the inning the runs would continue to pour in as Pagan would plate another run with a double (14) to center field, which plated Reyes who singled to center earlier in the inning.
Niese continued to find trouble in the top of the fifth inning as he hit pitch hitter Ryan Rayburn. Austin Jackson doubled (18) to plate Rayburn. Gerald Laird placed a single to center field which would plate Jackson cutting the Mets lead to 11-4. The fifth Detroit run would be plated one batter later as Brennan Boesch hit a single to center field. Mets manager Jerry Manuel had to make the call to the pen as Fernando Nieve would come into the game. Nieve would give up a hit to Danny Worth which would plate the sixth and final run before striking out the side.
“Niese was trying to be too careful with the lead,” Manuel said to reporters of his starters’ performance. “It was a good lesson for him tonight on the mound. To have a big lead and not go back out right away and pitch, and it was a good lesson.”
Reyes and Pagan would get the Mets offense going in the bottom of the sixth. Reyes struck out was able to get to first as the final strike went wide and hit the backstop. Pagan ripped a single to right field setting up runners on first and second for David Wright who hit a double (19) to left field and plating Reyes. Ike Davis hit a single to left field to plate Pagan and finally the third and final run was scored as Jason Bay lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to make the score 14-6 Mets.
Game two between these two teams will happen on Wednesday as righty R.A. Dickey (5-0, 2.82 ERA) takes on Jeremy Bonderman (3-4, 4.06 ERA) the first pitch for game two is slated for 7:10 p.m.
This story was originally posted on www.latinosports.com