Mets lose to Braves despite Hernandez's gutty heroics

It wasn't quite a Kirk Gibson moment, but Luis Hernandez will surely take it.

It didn't tie the game. It didn't even win the game (spoiler alert: the Mets lost). But Luis Hernandez's limp around the bases after lining a Tim Hudson sinker into the right field stands was certainly the feel-good moment of Saturday's game against the Braves at Citi Field. And darn if he didn't look like Gibson doing it.

One pitch after hitting a ball off the top of his right foot - and being examined for injury - Hernandez lined Hudson's 91-mph sinker into the rightfield seats to lead off the bottom of the fifth for the Mets.

He limped slowly from base to base - ala Gibson's famous blast off Oakland's Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 World Series - with his foot still clearly hurting him from the foul ball. But Hernandez made it around to a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,051, before being replaced at second base by Joaquin Arias at the start of the sixth inning. Hernandez was diagnosed with a broken bone in his right foot and was taken for further evaluation at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

The Mets, however, failed to take advantage of Hernandez's heroics and failed to play spoiler for a second straight day, losing 4-2 to Atlanta.

Hernandez is hitting .250 with two home runs in 16 games for the Mets this season. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by Atlanta in 2000 and spent time in the majors with Baltimore and Kansas City before the Mets signed him to a minor-league contract prior to spring training this year.

And if he ended his Saturday afternoon with cheers, all he heard was frustration after his first at-bat of the day.

With the Mets down 1-0 in the second inning, Hernandez struck out on a high fastball from Hudson with runners on first and third and one out. Hudson then struck out Mets starter Dillon Gee (1-1) to end the frame.

But Jose Reyes (2-for-4) led off the third inning with a solo homer to right - not too far from where Hernandez's blow would land - to tie the score at 1.

Gee, who had only allowed a single run in 13 innings coming into Saturday, gave up a one-out two-run double to Alex Gonzalez in the fourth to put the Mets in a 3-1 hole. It was the last runs he would allow, though, as part of seven mostly strong innings.

Enter Hernandez. Though he will probably never have commercials made reenacting his finest moment, he had shown the ability to make contact with Hudson's sinker, fouling off several pitches in his first at-bat.

Despite that, Hudson's plan of attack in the fifth inning never changed, with the right-hander throwing three consecutive low 90s sinkers to Hernandez. Hernandez took the first for a ball, before the second one ricocheted off his bat and hit the top of his right foot.

The third pitch was in almost the exact same spot as the foul, and this time Hernandez didn't miss, cutting the Braves' lead to 3-2.

But Bobby Parnell gave up a solo homer to Nate McLouth with one out in the top of the ninth, and the Mets managed just one hit and one walk in the final four innings. The Braves. meanwhile, were assured that they would at least keep pace with the first first-place Phillies in the NL East race. Atlanta began the day three games back of Philadelphia, scheduled to play Saturday night against Washington.

Though maybe they never had a chance; their Kirk Gibson was already out of the game.