Tejada keys Mets' big comeback victory

JustinVerlander35 · Jun 2, 2011

Jose Reyes spent most of this week mourning his grandmother's death in the Dominican Republic, miles away from the storms of Flushing. It was not until he arrived back at Citi Field on Thursday morning that his teammates told him what had happened. They described how manager Terry Collins had berated the Mets the night before, imploring them to play better.

"And he had a point," Reyes said. "We needed to start playing better."

Amidst the absurdities of Thursday's 9-8 victory over the Pirates, the Mets somehow did. They won despite spotting the Pirates a seven-run lead. They won despite their closer pitching an inning through unyielding pain. They won despite all logic and sense indicating that they should lose, in what is their biggest comeback victory since rebounding from a seven-run deficit to beat the Braves, 11-8, on June 30, 2000.

"Obviously," Collins said, "that was not the game plan."

In Collins' eyes, they won mainly because of Carlos Beltran, whose three-run homer in the third inning imbued the Mets with a sense of newfound confidence. But others noted that the Mets won thanks to Ruben Tejada, who knocked in three runs, and Daniel Murphy, who tied the game with a pinch-hit single, and even Pirates catcher Dusty Brown, who allowed a critical passed ball to squirt past him in the sixth.

Mostly, though, the Mets won because of what unfolded in the eighth.

Stuck in a tie game after their seven-run comeback, Ronny Paulino opened the inning with a clean single off Pirates reliever Jose Veras. Aiming to sacrifice Paulino over to second, Collins called on his best bunter, pitcher Chris Capuano. But before Capuano could lay down a successful sacrifice, Veras balked pinch-runner Willie Harris to second.
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Read More- http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_06_02_pitmlb_nynmlb_1&mode=recap_home&c_id=nym

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Tejada keys Mets' big comeback victory

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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Tejada keys Mets' big comeback victory

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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