Another tight one
Phillips' 2-run homer lifts Mets past Braves 5-4
Posted: Saturday September 05, 1998 09:02 PM
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John Olerud is batting .343 with 170 hits on the season AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- Undetected by all but slow-motion TV replays and his
teammates, Mike
Piazza's index finger helped the Mets to another single-digit win.
Piazza slid hard into second base and broke up a double play by tipping a
throw with his left hand Saturday, and Tony Phillips
made up for a rough sixth inning with a two-run homer in the eighth to lead
New York to a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves.
"Big, big, big," Phillips said of Piazza's play in the seventh inning.
"We scored a run on that. That shows you what kind of heart he has."
Piazza, who until recently had been booed at home by fickle Mets fans,
had his finger X-rayed after the game and said he may have to rest it a
day.
"Fortunately," he said. "I didn't get hit in the chops."
Trailing 4-2, Piazza's hustle helped the Mets close within a run. After
John Olerud
singled with one out off Dennis
Martinez, Piazza executed a perfect hit-and-run single off John Rocker
to send Olerud to third.
Brian McRae
then hit a grounder to second and Olerud scored when Piazza slid into
second and deflected shortstop Ozzie
Guillen's return throw to first.
As the Braves were arguing Piazza had intentionally tipped the ball, the
All-Star catcher was in the dugout tending to his already swollen finger
and trying to get the feeling back in his hand.
"I didn't want the gory details," said New York manager Bobby Valentine,
who had pinch-hit backup catchers Jorge
Fabregas and Todd Pratt in the
sixth. "I just wanted to know go or no."
Piazza finished the game, catching the last two innings and allowing
Valentine the embarrassment of having to use infielder Mike Kinkade,
recalled Friday from Class AAA, behind the plate.
"For him to go out there the last two innings was another feather in his
cap," Valentine said, "and another thank you from us."
In the top of the sixth, Phillips had failed to come up with Greg
Colbrunn's fly to left that turned into a two-run double as the Braves
took a 4-2 lead. In the bottom half, Phillips couldn't deliver a base hit
with the bases loaded, hitting an inning-ending flyout.
But in the eighth, Phillips made up for both. With New York trailing 4-3,
pinch-hitter Matt
Franco walked against Rudy Seanez (4-1) and Ralph
Milliard pinch-ran. Phillips then hit a 0-1 pitch over the fence in
right-center for his second homer since joining the Mets on July 31.
"These guys have been carrying me the last few weeks," Phillips said. "I
pulled my own weight for a change."
Turk
Wendell (5-1) struck out two in the eighth, and John Franco
finished for his 32nd save. Franco moved past Dennis
Eckersley into second place on the career list with his 391st save, 87
behind Lee
Smith.
"I got the ball," Franco said. "I'll add it to my collection and maybe
some day my son will cherish it."
Olerud hit a two-run homer for the Mets, who began the day one game
behind Chicago in the NL wild-card race. The Cubs played at Pittsburgh on
Saturday night.
New York, which on Friday beat Atlanta for the first time in six games,
leads the majors with 31 one-run victories.
"I think they are a little tougher," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.
"They're starting to jell. They've added a couple guys to their lineup.
Things just didn't go our way."
The Braves scored three runs in the sixth, two on Colbrunn's bases-loaded
drive to left off Mets starter Bobby Jones.
After Javy
Lopez's RBI single tied it 2-all, Atlanta loaded the bases when Andruw Jones'
tapper hugged the third-base line and stayed fair by inches.
On a 3-2 pitch, Colbrunn lifted a fly to deep left that looked like
trouble from the moment it was hit. Running full speed, Phillips had to
flip down his sunglasses and check the fence before he could look back. He
missed the ball on the warning track and then had to retrieve it
bare-handed when his glove got stuck in the wall as two Braves scored.
"It went in and out of the sun," Phillips said. "If I see it, I catch
it."
Braves starter Kevin
Millwood allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Bobby Jones
allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.
Andruw Jones hit Bobby Jones' first pitch of the fifth inning over the
wall in left-center for his 26th homer to put Atlanta up 1-0 but Olerud's
19th homer gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the bottom half.
Notes: A replay of Mark McGwire's
60th home run was shown moments after he connected in St. Louis, and many
of the 43,573 fans stood and applauded the historic shot. ... The Mets are
16 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1990 season. ...
Todd
Hundley, whose attempt to play in the outfield was recently scrapped by
the Mets, caught five innings for the Mets' Class AAA Norfolk team Friday
night. It was the first time Hundley had caught since September 16 of last
year, when his season ended early to have reconstructive surgery on his
right elbow.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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