MLB

Mets win marathon on bases-loaded jolt in 13th

Finally, a marathon for the Mets that ended in exhilarated exhaustion.

“It was just a fun inning,” Andrew Brown said after his two-run single in the 13th inning gave the Mets a 5-4 victory over the Diamondbacks at Citi Field. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be written up, I guess, right?”

After losing to the Marlins in 15 and 20 innings, respectively, earlier this season, this 5-hour, 13-minute tussle was more bearable for the Mets.

Cody Ross’ solo homer in the 13th off David Aardsma put the Diamondbacks ahead before Josh Satin started the winning rally with a double off Josh Collmenter in the bottom of the inning. John Buck was intentionally (and questionably) walked and ace Matt Harvey entered as a pinch-hitter for Aardsma. Manager Terry Collins elected to have Harvey sacrifice bunt the runners to second and third. Then Omar Quintanilla was intentionally walked and Brown won it at 12:24 a.m. with a single to left-center that scored two runs.

The Mets also got a huge performance from their bullpen, with Carlos Torres, Josh Edgin, LaTroy Hawkins, Bobby Parnell and Aardsma allowing one run over seven innings behind Shaun Marcum.

“If you’re going to be out there that long, you might as well win the game,” Collins said. “You want to win the game bad. We were out of pitching, I can tell you that. We were getting low on pitching, so I was glad we won when we did.”

Though Buck walked three times — twice intentionally batting ahead of the pitcher — he finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and six runners left on base on a night the Mets stranded 20.

Satin’s RBI single in the ninth against ex-Met J.J. Putz scored Marlon Byrd with the tying run. Byrd doubled with one out — nearly clearing the left-field fence to tie the game — and wasn’t stopping on Satin’s single to left moments later. Ross’ throw home beat Byrd, but catcher Miguel Montero couldn’t hold on.

“Losing a game like this, I don’t want to say [would be] devastating, but it definitely makes it not worth it,” Satin said. “Winning a game like this just makes the 5 1/2 hours or whatever we were out there that much more worth it.”

The Mets had a big opportunity in the eighth, when Eric Young Jr.’s RBI double sliced the Diamondbacks’ lead to one, but Daniel Murphy left the tying run at third base when he popped out against David Hernandez.

It was a rally that started with Quintanilla’s triple, on a ball Gerardo Parra nearly caught crashing to the ground on the warning track in right. Parra remained on the ground for several minutes and eventually walked off the field with an evident shoulder injury, and Young doubled moments later to bring the Mets within 3-2.

Marcum rebounded from a shaky start to last six innings in which he allowed three earned runs on six hits and three walks. The veteran righty had his best performance of the year in his previous start, pitching eight shutout innings against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field for his first victory of the season.

David Wright’s RBI single in the seventh finally got the Mets on the board, but there could have been more. Byrd’s broken-bat single put the tying runs on base, but Heath Bell retired Satin and Buck to keep the Diamondbacks’ lead at 3-1.

The Mets were mostly lost at the plate with runners in scoring position. Buck and Juan Lagares struck out in succession against Wade Miley after Satin doubled to open the sixth. Quintanilla then walked, before pinch-hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis whiffed against reliever Brad Ziegler.

The Mets squandered early chances against Miley. In the first inning, Buck was caught looking at strike three with the bases loaded to end a threat. The next inning, Young and Murphy struck out in succession to leave runners on second and third. Lagares had doubled leading off the inning and went to third on Quintanilla’s single. Marcum then bunted, moving Quintanilla to second while giving up an out.

Aaron Hill’s RBI single in the second extended the Diamondbacks’ lead to 3-0. Didi Gregorius singled leading off the inning and took second on Miley’s sacrifice bunt before Hill delivered the run.

Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run homer in the first quickly put Marcum in the hole. Hill was hit by a pitch before Goldschmidt, an early MVP candidate, unloaded for his 20th homer of the season.