Mets5 Cubs4
The sellout crowd of 51,135, with Dominican flags waving proudly, came to Shea last night to enjoy Merengue Night and see countryman Sammy Sosa. But what they got was a display in come-from-behind baseball by the resilient Mets, who rallied from a three-run deficit for a 5-4 win over the Cubs.
Sosa’s three-run first-inning bomb of starter Masato Yoshii electrified the crowd, and he got a hero’s welcome as herounded the bases. But the Mets kept chipping away at former Met Kevin Tapani, tying the score with three in the seventh and getting a broken-bat RBI single from Mike Piazza in the eighth that proved the game-winner.
The Mets have reeled off 10 wins in 13 games, and their 28-13 mark since June 6 is the best in baseball. And last night’s victory combined with Atlanta’s doubleheader split with Philadelphia moved the Amazin’s within 1 games back in the NL East.
Neither starter was coming in on a roll, and it showed. Yoshii was hoping to build on his first win in five starts, and Tapani was on a four-game winless skid, going 0-3 in that tough stretch.
Tapani gave up five runs in his 61/3 innings to take the loss. And Yoshii didn’t figure in the decision, giving up a three-run blast to Sosa in the first and just another lone run in the sixth before leaving. But he kept the Mets in it long enough for them to creep back into it, and Piazza to win it.
The Cubs grabbed the early lead before many in the large crowd found their seats. Third baseman Tyler Houston blooped a one-out single to left and moved to third when Mark Grace followed with a double into the right-field corner. And Sosa plated them both in grand style, reaching out and smashing Yoshii’s 2-1 offering 385 feet over the wall in right-center, just shy of the scoreboard. He trotted around the bases as the crowd roared with approval usually reserved for hometown players.
The reception left BobbyValentine upset afterwards.
“It’s as darn shame this team gets no appreciation in its own ballpark,” Valentine said. “Orel [Hershiser] gets 200 wins, Rickey [Henderson] is setting records, maybe we’ll get it together one of these day. I think the team should be appreciated better than that.
“We should fine a way to make the home-toiwn team feel lkike the home-town team.”
But Yoshii settled down after that, following with four scoreless innings, including getting Sosa looking on a called strike three to end the third with a man on. And the Mets got a run back in the second when Piazza beat out an infield hit, went to third on Robin Ventura’s double off the wall in left-center, and scored on Brian McRae’s grounder to short, but the Mets got nothing else.
The Mets had another scoring chance squelched in the fifth when left fielder Henry Rodriguez made a terrific diving catch to save a run and rob Rey Ordonez of an RBI double. But it wasn’t without cost, as Rodriguez bruised his rib and left the game an inning later.
The Cubs tacked on another run in the sixth, when Jose Hernandez reached out and stroked an 0-2 pitch to right for an RBI single. That pushed the lead to 4-1 and ended Yoshii’s evening after a 51/3-inning, seven-hit outing.
But Rigo Beltran came on to get Curtis Goodwin on a groundout and Tapani on a strikeout to end the inning, and the Mets rallied with three to tie in the bottom of the frame.
Edgardo Alfonzo stretched his hitting streak to 13 games with a leadoff single and John Olerud followed with a single to center. Piazza popped up to short, but the Mets got a pair of breaks when Tapani’s wild pitch to Ventura moved the runners to second and third, and then when Houston lost Ventura’s easy foul pop-up, letting it drop for an error.
Ventura came back and hit a fielder’s-choice grounder that plated Alfonzo. And after McRae walked, Benny Agbayani stroked a shot to center that dipped and trailing away from Goodwin. The ball glanced off Goodwin’s outstretched glove and rolled to the wall for a triple, and the Mets had tied the game at 4-all. An inning later, they had the lead.
Roger Cedeno worked a one-out walk, and Alfonzo followed with another single. Tapani left in favor of Felix Heredia, who got Olerud on a full-count fly to left. But after Scott Sanders replaced Heredia and Cedeno swiped third for his major league-leading 52nd stolen base, Piazza ripped a broken-bat single back up the middle for the go-ahead run.
Turk Wendell came on to work a perfect eighth, and Armando Benitez a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.