PHILADELPHIA — Fourteen exhausting innings later, Mets manager Terry Collins put the night in context.
“This is a good win for us — and obviously a huge win for America,” Collins said of the Mets’ 2-1 victory over the Phillies in 14 innings, hours after news spread that Osama bin Laden had been killed.
With chants of “U-S-A!” “U-S-A!” ringing through Citizens Bank Park, the Mets and Phillies kept going. Not until Ronny Paulino’s fifth hit of the game, an RBI double against Kyle Kendrick, did it appear there would be closure.
Taylor Buchholz made short work of the Phillies in the bottom of the inning to end it, snapping the Mets’ three-game losing streak.
“It’s probably a night I’ll never forget,” Mets starting pitcher Chris Young said. “There are some things in life bigger than the game.”
Players who had been removed from the game when the news broke sat in the clubhouse with one eye on a TV showing the game and another on the news channels. Others caught up on the news later.
“The first thing I thought about was going to Walter Reed — the emotions those guys must be going through,” David Wright said, referring to the Mets’ visit to the Army hospital last week.
“It’s just an incredible moment.”
The Mets won despite leaving 19 runners on base. Paulino was 5-for-7 — the other four hits were singles. Wright and Bay singled in the 14th to set up Paulino’s go-ahead hit.
“It’s a big night,” Collins said. “One of the guys said it at the end of the game: ‘It’s as big a night as we’ll have in a long time. We got bin Laden and we won.’ ”
Young was brilliant, allowing two hits and three walks over seven shutout innings, but saw his chance of earning the win evaporate when Tim Byrdak allowed a game-tying RBI single to Ryan Howard with two outs in the eighth.
The run was charged to Jason Isringhausen, who walked the inning’s leadoff hitter, John Mayberry Jr., before walking Jimmy Rollins with two outs. After Howard’s single against Byrdak made it 1-1, Francisco Rodriguez entered and walked Ben Francisco to load the bases before retiring Raul Ibanez to escape the jam.
The Mets will see the Phillies again later this month at Citi Field, but won’t return here until late August, having made two visits to Philly in the season’s first month. With four losses in six games here in 2011, the Mets are in no hurry to return.
Young’s fortitude was tested in the seventh, when he walked Howard with one out and drilled Francisco. After a visit from pitching coach Dan Warthen, the righty struck out Ibanez (making Ibanez hitless in his last 33 at-bats) before walking Pete Orr on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.
Collins stuck with Young to face Brian Schneider and was rewarded for his faith when the Phillies catcher struck out — on a checked-swing appeal call by third-base umpire Lance Barksdale.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel argued the call and was promptly ejected.
Cliff Lee, in his second career start against the Mets, allowed one earned run on eight hits and two walks over seven innings. The lefty put at least one runner on base in every inning, but consistently made the big pitch to escape trouble.
Carlos Beltran’s RBI double in the fifth accounted for the game’s first run. Wright, who had delivered a two-out single, scored and Beltran took third when right fielder Orr misplayed the ball.
But Lee then retired Bay to keep the Mets’ lead at 1-0.
The Mets had a shot early at Lee, but misfired. After Jose Reyes doubled leading off the game and Justin Turner walked, Lee struck out Wright and retired Beltran. Jason Bay walked to load the bases, but Ike Davis — fresh off a 20-RBI month — grounded out to end the threat.
Lee was at 112 pitches when Beltran came to the plate with Reyes at third and two outs in the seventh, but got the Mets right fielder to fly out on the first pitch, keeping the Phillies’ deficit at 1-0.
The Phillies wasted Schneider’s double with one out in the third. Placido Polanco singled leading off the fourth, but Young then handled the heart of Philly’s lineup — Rollins, Howard and Francisco – in order.