It was a hit, as David Wright said, that changed the game. It gave the Mets a surge. It deflated the Yankees.
In the bottom of the second inning last night, Jason Bay would eventually hit his second home run of the season, and later in the night, Bay would add his third. First, however, Alex Cora delivered an enormous hit to put the game’s first two runs on the board. The backup infielder smacked a two-out two-run single off CC Sabathia in the second inning, part of the Mets’ big four-run frame and part of their 6-4 Subway Series victory at Citi Field.
“Big momentum changer,” Wright said.
Added Johan Santana: “It was huge.”
And for Cora, it was also a huge atonement. On Friday night, he committed a throwing error that helped lead to two Yankees runs en route to Mets defeat.
Last night, the Mets failed in the first inning against Sabathia, loading the bases with one out but coming away with nothing thanks to Wright’s strikeout and Angel Pagan’s soft lineout to second base. With Sabathia, you never know how many chances you will have. But the next inning, with the game scoreless, the Mets threatened again.
This time, Rod Barajas led off with a double, and after Jeff Francoeur and Santana both struck out, Jose Reyes singled and moved to second on a bad throw. It kept the rally alive and put men on second and third with two outs for Cora.
Cora popped out to short against Sabathia in his first at-bat, and that made him 0-for-4 against the big lefty in his career. He snapped his skid, bringing in Barajas and Reyes by smacking a two-run single to center. Jason Bay followed with a two-run home run to left.
“I don’t care about numbers,” Cora said. “I just care about doing the little things and trying to help this team to win.”
As he was on Friday, Cora was a late addition to last night’s lineup, thanks to Luis Castillo’s ailing left foot. But Cora has started to quietly go on a nice tear. The 34-year-old now has nine hits in his last 24 at-bats along with seven RBIs over his last 10 games.
“He’s invaluable to this team,” Wright said. “He does a little bit of everything and rarely gets the credit he deserves.”