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Wild pitch helps Mets sweep Nationals

Apr 18, 2008 - 6:02 AM FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- A wild game, naturally, had a wild ending.

Damion Easley scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the 14th inning as the New York Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 3-2 victory on Thursday.

Easley led off the 14th inning with a single to left field off Joel Hanrahan (0-1), advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third on a failed pickoff attempt.

The Nationals opted to intentionally walk David Wright and Carlos Delgado, but it did not matter as Hanrahan (0-1) uncorked a wild pitch that skipped off the plate and past catcher Wil Nieves.

"The way it was going I felt something bizarre was going to happen," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "You have to win it or it makes that bus trip (tonight to Philadelphia) seem like 10 hours. I thought Easley had a couple of big at-bats and made a great move on the ball in the dirt (wild pitch in 14th inning). It was an ugly game, simple as that."

"We needed to bounce back at home and regain our home field advantage," Easley said. "I was just trying to make things happen out there and put the pressure on the defense."

New York's bullpen was key, holding the Nationals to just three hits in the final five innings. Jorge Sosa (2-1) picked up the win by throwing two scoreless innings.

"It held us together," Randolph said. "Both teams struggled. We have to do a better job with execution. We left a lot of men out there. Joe Smith was good and Sosa gave us some length. It worked out right on time for us. We really didn't overtax anyone."

New York wasted multiple opportunities, leaving 14 men on base. Washington stranded nine.

"We couldn't get that big hit, but in the end, if you put pressure on the opponent good things will happen," said Wright, who went 0-for-5. "Figs (Nelson Figueroa) was excellent and the bullpen was phenomenal."

The Mets tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth thanks to some lackadaisical Washington defense. With two outs, Ryan Church reached base when second baseman Ronnie Belliard let a ground ball skip under his glove.

Wright drew a two-out walk off Luis Ayala, and Delgado snapped out of a 0-for-14 slump by drilling a fastball from temporary closer Jon Rauch into right field to score Church with the tying run.

"It was a fastball," Delgado said. "He (Rauch) threw me a few breaking balls. Before that I wasn't picking up the ball against the lefty (John Lannan). He threw me a few sliders that I didn't pick up very well. That is why we play nine innings or, in this case, 14."

Prior to Delgado's key hit, the Nationals were clinging to a 2-1 lead provided by Nick Johnson's two-run homer in the fourth. The Mets opened the scoring as Church drilled an RBI double to center in the first.

Washington got a terrific outing from Lannan, who allowed one run and three hits in six innings.

Lannan retired 16 straight at one point and finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts with just one walk.

"I was having trouble getting through the first inning in my last two starts," Lannan said. "Randy (pitching coach St. Claire) visited me and helped me out. I threw for strikes in the right counts tonight and then threw it in the dirt and had them chase it."

Lannan was nearly matched by Figueroa, who allowed just two runs and three hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.

"Figueroa's start seemed like two days ago," Randolph said. "He pitched a great game and stepped it up again for us at home. He pitched well enough to win. I thought we would pull it for him."