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Badenhop, Marlins nip Mets in extras

May 17, 2011 - 6:29 AM Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - Burke Badenhop accomplished a rare feat for a reliever on Monday, picking up the win and knocking in the game-winner in the 11th to lift the Marlins over the Mets, 2-1, in a rain-soaked pitching duel.

A lucky bounce helped Badenhop (1-0) get out of a 10th-inning jam, and with a thin bench, Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez let the reliever hit with runners on first and second and two outs in the 11th.

In his 29th career plate appearance and second in the past two years, Badenhop worked a full count on Ryota Igarashi (2-1) and laced a single up the middle to plate Mike Stanton, who had tied the game with a home run in the seventh.

"By no means am I a hitter with any prowess...but it was nice to come through for the team tonight," Badenhop said.

It was Florida's only hit in 11 chances with runners in scoring position.

Not to be outdone, the Mets used pitcher Jon Niese as a pinch-hitter with two outs in the final frame, and Niese laced one to left-center and legged out a triple when Emilio Bonifacio couldn't make the running grab.

Leo Nunez recovered, though, striking out Jose Reyes to notch his 15th save.

The unusual ending overshadowed terrific pitching efforts from both sides.

Josh Johnson gave up one run on seven hits and two walks before exiting early. The Marlins' ace took a Carlos Beltran comebacker off his right forearm in the fifth, but stayed in the game and retired the next two hitters before leaving for precautionary reasons.

"It was more of a cautious decision to come out. [My forearm] started to get a little tight, but hopefully it will start to go away," Johnson said after the game.

Mike Pelfrey held the Marlins to one run on six hits in seven innings of work.

The matchup, delayed 80 minutes due to rain, went to extra innings after each team failed to score with runners in scoring position in the ninth.

Francisco Rodriguez recovered from plunking John Buck to open the top half, while the Marlins' bullpen survived Ramirez's two-base throwing error.

New York eventually loaded the bases with two outs in its at-bat, but with David Wright sidelined indefinitely with a stress fracture in his lower back, the club was forced to use Chin-Lung Hu as a pinch-hitter. Randy Choate induced a fielder's choice groundout to send it to extra innings.

With runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the 10th, Justin Turner hit a bouncer to short that took a bad hop on Hanley Ramirez. The ball, however, hit off Ramirez's shoulder and caromed directly to Omar Infante, who was standing on second base and turned the double play to end the inning.

"We had runners on base, we got [Johnson] when he wasn't sharp, we had a lot of things in our advantage that we couldn't capitalize on," Mets manager Terry Collins said.

The Mets broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when Daniel Murphy reached with a one-out base hit, moved to second on a wild pitch and came around on Turner's double to the right-field gap.

Pelfrey, backed by several nice defensive plays, was cruising until he hung a breaking ball to Stanton in the seventh, which resulted in a moonshot to straightaway center that tied the game, 1-1.

Game Notes

This was the opener of a quick two-game series between the National League East foes...Johnson was 8-1 in his career against the Mets and Pelfrey was 1-7 versus the division rival coming in...Johnson had lasted at least seven innings in his previous six starts. His ERA rose from 1.63 to 1.64...Mets pitchers Chris Young and Jenrry Mejia underwent surgeries on their right arms on Monday...Florida relievers combined to allow just two hits and four walks over six innings...The Mets went 2-for-12 with RISP...Ramirez, hitting second in the lineup instead of his usual spot in the No. 3 slot, went 0-for-6.