UNFAMILIA GROUND
Mets fall as Jeurys blows 1st save in year:
JEURYS FAMILIA’S 52-straight save streak finally ended Wednesday in shocking fashion and it came at the hands of one player known for inflicting pain on the Mets and their fans. Yadier Molina — remember him from Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS? — socked a game-tying, RBI double off the normally lightsout closer Familia in the top of the ninth Wednesday – ending Familia’s consecutive saves streak — and pinch hitter Kolten Wong later whacked a twoout, RBI double to left off Familia that scored Jeremy Hazelbaker from second for the go-ahead run, as St. Louis rallied in its final at-bat to beat the Mets 5-4 and stun the 37,851 fans at Citi Field. “This is a really tough one to take. When you come back on Adam Wainwright and have a chance to win the game, that’s a pretty big night,” Mets manager Terry Collins said after his club fell to 53-47. “Have your closer who has been lights out give up two (runs), that’s a little tough to take.”
Familia’s streak of 52 consecutive saves dated back to Aug. 1, 2015, and this season he had 36 saves before blowing Wednesday night’s opportunity.
Molina, who hit a tie-breaking, tworun homer in Game 7 of that ’06 NLCS to punch the Cardinals’ ticket to the World Series, smacked the first pitch he saw from Familia to deep center. With one out, Jedd Gyorko had walked on four pitches prior to Molina’s at-bat, and was replaced by pinch runner Randal Grichuk, who raced home from first on Molina’s hit.
“I think I leave a little bit in the middle,” Familia said of his fateful pitch to Molina. “I know tomorrow is a new day.”
It was a crushing defeat for the Mets, who had rallied in the seventh off Wainwright to take the lead, capped by a Yoenis Cespedes mammoth two-run homer.
Wainwright, who earned the save in that ’06 Game 7 after fanning Carlos Beltran on a called third strike, threw a wild pitch during Cespedes’ seventh-inning atbat Wednesday, allowing Travis d’Arnaud to score from third and pull the Mets within a run.
With a full count, Cespedes fouled off three more pitches before slugging the ninth pitch of the at-bat (and Wainwright’s 117th and final pitch of the game) 439 feet off the second-tier façade in left center. With Addison Reed working a scoreless eighth for the bridge to Familia, it seemed like the Mets were poised to take the series from St. Louis. Only they didn’t.
“It’s baseball. Until the 27th out, you don’t know any results. I have a lot of faith in Familia, but things unfortunately didn’t work out,” Cespedes said through a translator.
Logan Verrett pitched admirably, giving up three runs on five hits through seven innings, but the Mets did him no favors by continuing to struggle on offense with runners on base. The Mets were 2-for-14 with RISP Wednesday night.
“We didn’t get past that (problem). Even though Ces got a big hit, we had a lot of opportunities to score some runs,” said Collins.
The Mets skipper had already admitted Wednesday afternoon that the steady stream of injuries to his players this season has started to become “frustrating,” as Jose Reyes was the latest to get scratched from the lineup after suffering a left intercostal strain in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Wilmer Flores replaced Reyes at third.
The Mets had to try to regroup against Wainwright – no small endeavor – although Cespedes got the best of the righthander in that epic at-bat in the seventh. Wainwright gave up four runs on 11 hits but got a no decision. Jonathan Broxton picked up the win and Seung Hwan Oh got the save.
Verrett was solid through the first two innings, but unraveled in the top of the third, giving up three runs on three hits, including back-to-back doubles by Matt Holliday and Matt Adams with two outs. Wainwright walked to open the frame, and moved to second on an Aledmys Diaz single with one out.
Both runners then scored on Holliday’s double to right. Adams drove in Holliday on another double to right.
Cespedes’ 22nd homer of the season only brought fleeting euphoria, as the Cardinals (54-47) proved once again that they can still break the Mets’ — and their fans’ — hearts in the cruelest of ways.