By Keith Harrison
The Mets kicked off their first inter-league series of the season on Friday Night against the Los Angeles Angels in Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. Dillon Gee was pitching for the Mets, Tyler Skaggs for the Angels.
The Mets would get on the board early in the top of the 1st. Eric Young Jr. leads off the game with a single to right. Daniel Murphy follows that up with a single of his own to right, Young Jr. goes first to third. David Wright is up next, he continues his slump by grounding into a 5-4-3 double play. The Angels chose to surrender the run and go for the double play, Mets lead 1-0.
Bottom of the 1st, the Angels would answer right back. Kole Calhoun leads off by grounding out to first base. Then Angels star Mike Trout would make a hell of a first impression in his first encounter with the New York Mets. Trout cracks a 435 foot home run to left center to tie the game at 1.
David Freese grounds out to third to kick off the bottom of the 2nd. Howie Kendrick is up next, he doubles to deep right center. JB Shuck is up next, he grounds out to Dillon Gee, Kendrick advances to third. Chris Iannetta is up next, he smacks a single to center field, Kendricks comes in to score. Angels take a 2-1 lead.
The Mets answer back immediately. Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud leads off the inning with a 402 foot home run to center field. Mets tie the game up 2-2. d’Arnaud is finally starting to show signs of life at the plate.
Top of the 4th, David Wright leads off by grounding out to third. Andrew Brown is up next, he singles to right. Curtis Granderson follows that up with a double to left field, Brown goes first to third. Josh Satin then proceeds to smack a double of his own to deep left center field. Brown and Granderson both score, Mets lead 4-2.
Dillon Gee strikes out David Freese swinging to start the bottom half of the 6th. Howie Kendrick draws a walk. JB Shuck then proceeds to hit a 2-run homer to right field. Angels tie the game up at 4. Gee would be relieved by Carlos Torres later in the inning and the Mets bullpen would surprisingly hold it together for a while.
The game would remain tied up 4-4 all the way into extra innings, the bottom of the 11th to be exact. Jeurys Familia on in relief for the Mets. Raul Ibanez leads off with a single to right field. David Freese is up next, Familia throws a wild pitch, Ibanez takes second. Freese grounds out to shortstop, Ibanez to third. Howie Kendrick is up next, he’s intentionally walked. The Mets then intentionally walk JB Shuck as well, who homered earlier in the night. Quite a bold strategy, this better pay off for Jeurys Familia and the Mets. What’s the result you wonder? Familia plunks the next batter, Hank Conger, with a pitch to bring Ibanez in for the winning run.
The Mets lose in humiliating fashion 5-4.
Mets fall to 4-6. Familia gets the loss, he falls to 0-2.
The Mets and Angels would be in action next on Saturday Night. Jon Niese vs. Jered Weaver.
Keith Harrison : PureSportsNY