A pinch-hit homer from Chris Young, an outstanding defensive play by Daniel Murphy and a win in a one-run game.
What’s gotten into these Mets?
Young’s homer tied the game in the seventh and Eric Campbell’s pinch-hit single an inning later knocked in the winning run in a 5-4 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field, in what manager Terry Collins said “might be the biggest win of the year.”
Whatever you want to call it, the Mets have won six of their last seven games as they try to encourage general manager Sandy Alderson to hold off on becoming a seller at the trade deadline.
Young has been as big a reason as any why the Mets have struggled so much throughout the first half, but with one out in the seventh, he turned on a Bryan Morris cutter for his first hit since June. Murphy called the homer a “stroke of lightning.”
Afterward, Young turned philosophical.
“The games ahead have nothing to do with the games in the past,” Young said. “Nobody cares about the past in that moment. It’s always about living in the moment and playing in the moment and if you’re able to do that all season, normally at the end of the road, that pot of gold is there.”
It was for Young last year, when he signed a $7.25 million deal following a brutal year in Oakland.
With a win Sunday, the Mets would enter the break in third place, passing the Marlins, but still well behind the front-running Braves and Nationals.
Nevertheless, it would be a good way to end what has been at times an ugly first half.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Collins said.
Young’s blast was just one of the things that went the Mets’ way.
With runners on first and second and two out in the eighth inning of a tie game, Murphy made a sensational leaping catch of Adeiny Hechavarria’s line drive that seemed destined for right field — which could have plated Miami’s Garrett Jones with the lead run.
“I jumped as high as I could and I caught it,” Murphy said. “It’s one of those plays where you’re kind of at the mercy of your own athleticism, and I had barely enough to get to the ball.”
So the game stayed tied and the Mets quickly pounced on the opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the eighth. Travis d’Arnaud’s two-out double led to Collins using the right-handed Campbell against lefty Mike Dunn (7-5) instead of Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Campbell came through with a single to center to drive in d’Arnaud.
The hit completed a comeback that saw the Mets fight back from a pair of two-run deficits, and Vic Black (2-2) got the victory.
Daisuke Matsuzaka exited down two runs and in line to get the loss, despite his first double-digit strikeout game since accomplishing the feat three times in 2007.
Young’s homer got Matsuzaka off the hook.
Bronx-born Tom Koehler, who went to New Rochelle High School and Stony Brook, retired the first seven Mets he faced before Ruben Tejada drew a walk with one out in the third. The Mets didn’t get a hit until d’Arnaud singled to start the bottom of the fifth.
The Mets tied it at 2-2 when Tejada laid down a squeeze bunt that knocked in Nieuwenhuis from third, but the real drama came later.
“It puts a lot of fight in you as a team,” Young said. “It makes you see anything is still possible. We’re still capable of making a big move.”