The New York Mets' Jon Niese hit a triple in the bottom of the 11th inning with two outs, but Jose Reyes couldn't get him home. This game was full of lost opportunities ... but the Florida Marlins' Burke Badenhop, all of 190-plus innings pitched and four major league seasons -- with one hit in his career -- came up in the top of the 11th after an inning of relief to collect the base hit, on a single up the middle, to take advantage of his chance. Only against the New York Mets would something like this occur, but they had enough chances of their own in prior innings and failed to get the job done. Hence, they fell to the Marlins, in a game that was very winnable, 2-1.
The Mets grabbed the lead on a Justin Turner double to right center in the fourth inning off of Marlins' ace Josh Johnson, but that 1-0 lead would only last until the seventh inning, as Mike Stanton hit his patented booming homerun, to knot the game up at 1.
Johnson came out of the game after five innings after deflecting a bouncer up the middle with his forearm, and Big Pelf was able to match him pitch-by-pitch. In fact, he threw his best game of the season -- lasting seven innings, allowing just one run on six hits, getting first-pitch strikes and using spacious Citi Field to his advantage.
But even with the game tied, the Mets had several chances to cash in. In the bottom of the ninth, Turner reached on an infield single to short and made it to second base on a throwing error by Hanley Ramirez. Jason Pridie was up to bat and asked to bunt, but couldn't get the job done and struckout. Josh Thole was intentionally walked, Fernando Martinez grounded into a fielder's choice and Chin-Lung Hu (sent up to bat for Willie Harris) grounded out.
Then, in the bottom of the 10th inning, Carlos Beltran led off with a walk, Bay sacrificed him over and Daniel Murphy was intentionall walked. Turner hit a ball that Ramirez botched, but the carom went right to second baseman Omar Infante and all he had to do was step on the bag and throw to first, to end the inning.
Badenhop, of all people, got the winning base knock in the 11th -- but the Mets almost pulled some magic out of their caps as well. After two quick outs, Niese was sent to the plate with no usable pinch hitters available, and tripled. However, Reyes struckout to end all of the Mets' hopes.