It has been a rough season so far for the New York Mets and on Sunday afternoon it looked like the team was about to hit a low point, three outs away from being swept by the Chicago Cubs.
Down 3-0 the Mets put together a sensational rally off of Cubs’ closer Carlos Marmol, capped off by Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ walk-off three run home run to give them a 4-3 victory. It was Niewenhuis’ first home run of the year and could not have come at a more opportune time.
The Mets had dropped the first two games of this series, first on Friday when they were dominated by Edwin Jackson en route to a 6-3 loss. Friday’s loss also dropped Shaun Marcum’s record to 0-8 on the season.
On Saturday it was Scott Feldman who kept the Mets’ bats at bay, pitching seven innings of one run baseball. Starlin Castro opened the Cubs lead to 5-1 with an eighth inning double before they held on for a 5-2 victory.
Then on Sunday Matt Garza took his turn shutting down the Mets, going seven innings with zero runs allowed. A David Wright throwing error led to two runs as the Cubs took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
The Mets got to Marmol early however, as Marlon Byrd hit a solo home run to get them to with two runs. After a Lucas Duda walk and a John Buck single, Omar Quintanilla bunted the runners over to bring up Nieuwenhuis.
His home run gave the Mets the victory and a highlight that was desperately needed in this season that has been marked by their struggles at the plate.