Rod Barajas stood in the on-deck circle in the bottom of the ninth without taking a swing.
He did the same thing when he got to the plate before Sergio Romo threw a pitch, since Barajas was still feeling the effects from getting whacked on a swing by Eli Whiteside on an attempted pitchout in the seventh.
His first swing was on a Romo curveball, and he sent it over the left field wall for a game-winning, two-run homer in the Mets’ 6-4 win over the Giants last night at Citi Field.
“I tried to keep my swings to a minimum,” said Barajas, his left index finger in a cup of ice after the victory. X-rays on the finger taken after the game were negative. “And just swing when it counted.”
He made sure of that.
“Catching wasn’t the problem,” Barajas said after the Mets’ eighth straight win at home. “I could deal with that. It was swinging I was worried about. If my finger was gonna change my swing, then I’d be in trouble. If I could get one good swing and make good contact . . .”
It was Barajas’ second homer of the game and helped bail out Francisco Rodriguez, who blew his second save in six chances when he gave up a soaring solo home run to pinch-hitter John Bowker with one out in the top of the ninth, costing Mike Pelfrey his fifth win of the season.
That disappointment was short-lived, thanks to Barajas.
“He’s been quite an acquisition,” manager Jerry Manuel said of the catcher. “He has been unbelievable. You go back to that first series, he hit some balls hard that got caught that were in clutch situations. He seems to rise to that occasion.”
Never more so than last night.
Barajas followed Ike Davis’ second-inning blast with one of his own, then in the seventh he was hit on the hand when Pelfrey’s pitchout attempt didn’t go far enough outside.
Barajas stayed in the game, even after a check swing on a groundout to second in the bottom of the seventh clearly bothered him.
“They asked me few times,” Barajas said about leaving the game. “I want to be out there with my pitcher. I want to close the game out.”
He got the chance after Pelfrey left in the eighth with a lead that was preserved by Fernando Nieve, who got the last two outs of the inning.
Rodriguez then surrendered the tying homer and needed Davis’ circus catch on a foul pop up by Pablo Sandoval to escape further damage after singles by Aaron Rowand and Mark DeRosa put the go-ahead run at third.
But in the bottom of the ninth, Davis walked with one out and Barajas took care of the rest.
“It’s not one guy every night,” Jason Bay said. “But so far it’s been Rod most nights.”
And it’s made Bengie Molina’s decision to return to San Francisco instead of signing with the Mets this offseason not hurt very much.
Barajas, who has eight homers on the year, more than any catcher, has turned out to be a pretty good Plan B.
He admitted that he was driven by the lack of interest shown in him this offseason.
“Maybe a little bit,” Barajas said. “Now I’m trying to win.”