K-Rod gives up grand slam, Mets lose 6-2
Photo credit: AP | Mets starter Oliver Perez pitches in the first inning against the San Diego Padres.
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Maybe it’s better that the Mets are all but mathematically
eliminated from playoff contention. It makes watching Francisco Rodriguez pitch a little less painful when the outcome is relatively meaningless.
After Oliver Perez delivered his best outing of the season, allowing two hits over 6 1/3 innings, K-Rod had his second meltdown in as many appearances, giving up a grand slam to Everth Cabrera that doomed the Mets in a 6-2 loss to the Padres at PETCO Park.
It was K-Rod’s second blown save in four days and marked the first time he had suffered consecutive blown saves since he blew three straight in 2004.
“It’s pretty obvious the numbers speak for themselves,” Rodriguez said when asked about that particular statistic. “The last two outings have been really depressing.”
Called on to protect a 2-1 lead in the ninth, Rodriguez walked Kyle Blanks to open the inning and then gave up a tying RBI double to Will Venable. The play was close at the plate. Anderson Hernandez fired a perfect relay throw and Brian Schneider appeared to block Blanks’ hand with his glove. But plate umpire Marvin Hudson thought otherwise.
Schneider argued with Hudson, and the Mets’ catcher was soon joined by Jerry Manuel. After the game, Schneider and K-Rod watched the replay on a laptop in the clubhouse. It only got them more worked up about the call.
“We have the luxury to look at the replay,” Schneider said. “He told me [Blanks] got in. He just said his hand got in. I told him I had my glove in front of the plate and he slid into the glove.
When asked if Hudson was out of position – the umpire watched from behind the catcher -- Schneider grew more frustrated.
“It is what it is,” Schneider said. “I’m not going to sit here and criticize
where [Hudson] was. But he was out.”
Said K-Rod, “It’s a tough one. I don’t think he had a good angle. It could go either way. I think he missed the call and then after that, everything fell apart.”
Venable took third on the throw, and after a walk to Henry Blanco, K-Rod intentionally walked pinch hitter Oscar Salazar to the load the bases. Jerry Manuel then pulled in Angel Pagan to be an extra infielder, playing between Hernandez and Alex Cora with everyone pulled in to the grass.
It didn’t matter. K-Rod thought he had Cabrera struck out on a 2-and-2 breaking pitch, but Hudson saw it as inside. The next pitch was a fastball and Cabrera, who had only one homer this season, drilled it into the rightfield seats to stick K-Rod with his fifth blown save in 29 chances.
“It feels really frustrating,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like I got squeezed
right there.”
Using a new delivery, with a more pronounced rocking motion backward, Perez allowed only two hits over 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven but the Mets still dropped their seventh straight at PETCO.
Henry Blanco had a one-outdouble in the third inning and Chase Headley smacked an RBI double in the seventh that bounced Perez.
“That’s the best game I threw all year,” Perez said. “I was feeling pretty strong.”
David Wright was responsible for the Mets’ only two runs in the first
inning. Wright had an RBI single off Padres starter Kevin Correia and later scored on a wild pitch. Brian Stokes stranded two runners in the seventh in relief of Perez and left the bases loaded in the eighth.
Pagan spurred the Mets to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when he singled to open the game and later scored on Wright’s RBI single. But in the seventh, with Perez in trouble, Pagan appeared to misjudge the distance to the wall on a leaping try to grab Chase Headley’s RBI double.
Perez put himself in serious jeopardy when he walked both David Eckstein and Adrian Gonzalez to begin the seventh inning. After Kevin Kouzmanoff flied out, Headley crushed the first pitch, a 91-mph fastball, and sent a deep drive to left-center.
Pagan gave chase, but with the jagged wall, it may have been difficult
for him to get a read on how close he was to a collision. As a result, Pagan mistimed his jump and the ball sailed over his head before bouncing on the warning track.
That bounced Perez and left Stokes to protect a 2-1 lead with runners at second and third. Stokes was up to the challenge. He whiffed Blanks on three pitches for the second out, and after a walk to Venable loaded the bases, he got Blanco on a nubber in front of the plate. Schneider hustled to grab the ball, then took two steps back to step on the plate for the third out.
