D’Arn right he was out.
Travis d’Arnaud didn’t know for sure as Matt Carpenter came hurtling toward the plate in Wednesday’s ninth inning with the potential tying run, but the Mets catcher knew he had reached around and applied the tag.
The fact it was on time was confirmed moments later, when instant replay upheld plate umpire Marty Foster’s “out” signal and Kyle Farnsworth and the Mets were about to escape with a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals at Citi Field.
“I don’t even remember what happened, honestly,” d’Arnaud said after the Mets won for the third time in four games. “I just turned my head and saw [Carpenter] out of my peripheral vision, kind of past me, so I tagged almost behind me right away.”
Daniel Descalso’s shot to left-center had landed for a double, allowing Jon Jay to easily score from second. But Kirk Nieuwenhuis threw a strike to Ruben Tejada, who wheeled and fired a bullet to d’Arnaud just in front of the plate.
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“I thought I was going to catch it off the bat,” Nieuwenhuis said. “I just had to stick with the play and finish the play.”
Farnsworth, who retired Matt Holliday to end the game after the play at the plate for the second out, admitted he was thinking “tie game” as Descalso’s ball landed, but was treated to a new life.
“I knew that there needed to be two perfect throws,” d’Arnaud said. “And Nieuwy and Tejada had two perfect throws to give that play any chance, so kudos to them.”
The Mets (11-10) certainly savored the victory, after watching slow and steady outlast fast and filthy.
The Cardinals had stud Michael Wacha on the mound, mowing through the Mets as if they were overmatched Little Leaguers early, but Jon Niese kept pitching.
Even as Wacha recorded his first nine outs by strikeout, Niese continued grinding away. Wacha was done after four innings and 93 pitches, but Niese was just getting warmed up on a chilly, windy night.
“The conditions were rough out there,” said Niese, who allowed one run on six hits and two walks over 6 ²/₃ innings. “The wind was blowing hard in from left, so I knew if I could pitch in if possible and try to get them to pull the ball, the ball wasn’t traveling that way.”
The wind gusted strong enough that Wacha’s cap blew off in the second inning and tumbled to second baseman Mark Ellis, who made a clean scoop.
Wacha’s final line included 10 strikeouts, three hits allowed and five walks. He was finished after facing eight batters in the fourth inning and allowing two runs on three walks and two hits.
Lucas Duda gave the Mets a 3-1 cushion with a solo homer in the sixth against Seth Maness. The blast was Duda’s fourth of the season and first since his competition at first base, Ike Davis, was traded to the Pirates on Friday. It was also the Mets’ first homer in their last eight games at Citi Field.
Wacha had a filthy curveball through the first three innings. But each of those three-strikeout innings was interrupted by a base runner.
Most notably, Curtis Granderson singled in the first inning to snap a career-worst 0-for-22 drought. Granderson finished 1-for-3 with a walk and raised his average to .125.
The Mets took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on two walks with the bases loaded. D’Arnaud’s sharp single loaded the bases before Tejada walked to make it 1-1. Wacha then struck out Niese before walking Nieuwenhuis to bring in the inning’s second run.
“We’ve been pitching well, because we certainly haven’t been swinging the bats the way we would like,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re hanging in there because we play hard.”