PHOENIX – There was only one out last night. Damion Easley already had delivered twice this season with two outs in what could have been the Mets’ losses.
You can add this one to his remarkable early season clutch display.
Easley racked up his third game-changing hit in the last 10 days last night.
With one out in the top of the ninth and the Mets down a run, Easley drilled a three-run homer to lead New York to a six-run ninth and a 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
“He’s flat-out won three ballgames for us this year,” Paul Lo Duca said.
Last Tuesday, the 37-year-old Easley slammed a two-out, two-strike pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the 10th against the Rockies to tie the game. Then on Saturday against the Nationals, Easley kept the Mets going with a two-out single in the ninth and the Mets later tied the game.
Last night, Easley – who is replacing Jose Valentin at second base – came up in the ninth after Shawn Green had reached on a one-out error by first baseman Tony Clark and Lo Duca had walked. On a 2-0 pitch from closer Jose Valverde, Easley smashed a 408-foot, three-run shot to left-center.
After he crossed home plate, Lo Duca swatted him on top of his helmet. Later in the inning, David Wright added a three-run homer, his second in three games.
Easley said the clutch power barrage may be unexpected, but he’s not surprised he can perform well in crucial moments.
” ‘Amazed’ would mean that I’m doubting myself,” he said of his late-inning heroics. “I’m not going to say I go up there expecting to hit home runs in all these situations, but I like to go up there and think I can come through.”
Willie Randolph recognizes Easley’s value. “That’s what he is – clutch,” Randolph said.
There was some troubling news for the Mets, however. Left fielder Moises Alou exited the game for a pinch runner in the sixth because of left knee swelling, and said his knee felt unstable and painful.
Alou said he has fluid in his knee, as well as arthritis and a small tear in his meniscus (he had an MRI exam on it earlier in the week). He said it might have to be drained today, and also might require a cortisone shot.
The Mets must have felt fairly confident going into this game because starter Tom Glavine went into his outing with an 8-1 record and a 1.37 ERA at Chase Field. But this time was a different story. Glavine, who didn’t get win No. 294 for the third straight outing, gave up five hits and four runs in his six innings, surrendering two homers.
“I made one bad pitch,” he said, referring to a two-run homer he gave up to Chris Snyder in the fifth inning.
Glavine also allowed a tie-breaking homer in the sixth to Orlando Hudson that put Arizona up 4-3 until Easley’s homer.
Easley’s nickname is Hit Man, something he said he’s been called since 2004 with the Marlins. He said it stems from former player Pittsburgh Pirate Mike Easler — whose originally was called the Hit Man – and because Carlos Delgado and Lo Duca were both on the Marlins, the moniker has carried over to the Mets.
Last night, the Hit Man was clutch again.
Mets 9 D’backs 4