Piazza's HR Stuns Padres
The New York Mets couldn't come up with a clutch hit, their reliable bullpen failed them and they were facing the most dominant closer in the game. All signs pointed to a four-game losing streak.
Then Mike Piazza's two-run homer in the ninth inning off Trevor Hoffman bailed them out and gave New York a 4-3 victory against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.
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It's been a long time since the Padres saw anything like what happened at Shea Stadium. They had won 188 straight games 181 in the regular season and seven in the playoffs that they led after eight innings dating back to July 24, 1996.
"All that amounts to a hill of beans right now," Hoffman said. "You're only as good as your last outing. Those are just stats, so take them for what they are worth."
Hoffman (0-2) entered the ninth with a 3-2 lead and gave up a single to John Olerud. That brought up Piazza, who was mired in a 1-for-13 slump since coming off the disabled list Sunday.
Hoffman threw a high, outside fastball that Piazza hit over the right-center field fence for his third homer of the year. Piazza stood at the plate as the ball sailed over the wall, and raised both arms before beginning his home-run trot.
"I decided I wasn't going to let him get me in a hole," Piazza said. "He's got a lot of options and he's got that great changeup. He just gave me a pitch that I liked and I did what I could with it."
The Padres, who could manage only four hits and a run in seven innings off Al Leiter, had taken the lead with two runs in the eighth off the usually reliable Armando Benitez.
Quilvio Veras walked to lead off the inning and scored on Tony Gwynn's 500th careedouble. Benitez, who hadn't allowed a run in his first 9 2-3 innings with the Mets, then gave up Phil Nevin's second RBI double of the game to put San Diego up 3-2.
"I certainly did my job and at least put us in position to win it or for Mike to take care of it," Leiter said. "Of course I'd like to have that 2-2 record next to my name but that's baseball."
Olerud went 3-for-5 with a solo homer for the Mets, who could not capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities. New York, which leads the league in runners left on base, stranded 11 between the fourth and eighth innings and 12 overall.
The Mets went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on Edgardo Alfonzo's RBI double. Mike Kinkade followed with a walk to load the bases, but Sterling Hitchcock got out of the jam by getting Rey Ordonez to ground into a double play on the first pitch.
Hitchcock got out of more trouble of his own making in the fifth and sixth. After bobbling a grounder and walking Jermaine Allensworth with one out in the fifth, he recovered to get Olerud to line out to left and Piazza to pop out on the first pitch.
"We were frustrated offensively. We were unable to get the big hit," Piazza said. "It's been like that the last three games. Everybody was pressing and taking bad swings and unfortunately we weren't executing. Hopefully this will get our offense going a little bit."
After walking Ordonez to load the bases with one out in the fifth, Hitchcock struck out Leiter and got Rickey Henderson to pop out on the first pitch. Hitchcock allowed two runs, seven hits and four walks in six innings.
Relievers Carlos Reyes and Dan Miceli each stranded two runners in the seventh and eighth innings.
Turk Wendell (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win.
Notes: Leiter, who started the season 0-2 with a 7.67 ERA in three starts, has allowed two runs in 13 1-3 innings in his last two games, lowering his ERA to 4.36. ... San Diego's Jim Leyritz missed the game after bruising his right thumb Tuesday. Nevin started in his place, the first time in Hitchcock's last 15 starts that Leyritz wasn't the catcher. ... Leiter walked Ruben Rivera in the second inning, Rivera's first walk in 52 plate appearances this year. ... Gwynn went 2-for-3, leaving him 41 hits shy of 3,000. ... Henderson stole the 1,302nd base of his career.
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