Pagan Powers Mets over St. Louis in Extras

[caption id="attachment_359" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Mets mob Angel Pagan at the plate after he hits a walk-off homerun to push the Mets over St. Louis 6-5."][/caption]

The Mets needed an extra-inning in their back and fourth battle against the Cardinals, but Angel Pagan ended the game for good with a walk-off homerun to the Pepsi Porch on the first pitch he saw in the 10^th inning last night.

Before the final score of 6-5 was registered, it appeared as if the Cardinals were going to win this contest.  With R.A. Dickey’s trademark knuckleball flat early on, the Cardinal hitters battered the hittable pitch early and often.  They scored four times in the first three innings.

But a reenergized Mets lineup was more than able to answer the call.  Josh Thole hit a long RBI double to center field, followed by a soft RBI single from Dickey that deflected off the glove of the St. Louis shortstop allowing Thole to score from second.

The Mets scored two more in the fifth on Carlos Beltran’s long homerun that landed several rows behind the SNY broadcasting set on the Pepsi Porch.  Beltran’s two-run bomb tied the game at 4.  But that was all the Mets were going to give to Dickey as he exited the ballgame with one out in the seventh.

The bullpen worked around a big threat when Pedro Beato came on in relief and got Albert Puljos to pop out with two outs and a runner on third to preserve the score.  But in the eighth, Bobby Parnell got into his own mess and St. Louis managed to scratch out a go-ahead run, pulling them ahead 5-4.

The resilient Mets offense fought back, as Josh Thole’s sharp single to left field scored the Mets fifth run, tying the game yet again.  They called on new closer Jason Isringhausen to preserve the tied ballgame and he delivered with a scoreless ninth and tenth, setting up Pagan’s game-winning poke.

With the 6-5 extra-inning win, the Mets take a 2-0 series lead, with the finale slated for 12pm later today.  Because Atlanta lost again, the Mets make up another game in the Wild Card and are now 7.5 behind the Braves.

Game Notes:

The Mets registered their first walk-off win of 2011 with Angel Pagan’s Pepsi Porch game-winning blast.

With his clutch hits last night, Josh Thole is hitting .330 with 13 RBIs over his last 29 games.

Jason Bay was pulled for pinch-hitter Willie Harris in the bottom of the fourth because he appeared to have injured his leg while trying to make a sliding catch earlier in the game.  He is expected to be given a day off.