A game which featured a pitchers' duel between Matt Harvey of the New York Mets (23-16) and John Lackey of the St. Louis Cardinals (25-13), ended in favor of New York after four hours and 14 minutes of play before a crowd of 23,338 at Citi Field.
Harvey, 26, threw eight shutout innings, lowering his season ERA below the two threshold. Lackey, 36, allowed just one earned run over seven innings of work, a RBI-single to Mets' first baseman Lucas Duda in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Ahead 1-0 in the top of the ninth, the Mets called upon Jeurys Familia to close his 14th save of the season out of 14 opportunities. With runners on the corners and one out, right fielder Jason Heyward hit a sacrifice fly-RBI to right field, which subsequently tied the game and denied Harvey his sixth win of the season.
Familia took over as closer after Jenrry Mejia received an 80-game suspension on April 11, 2015 for the use of Stanozolol, a synthetic anabolic steroid.
Going into extra innings, the game tied at one remained dead-locked until the bottom of the 14th inning with one out. With the bases loaded, John Mayberry Jr. came in to pinch-hit for right handed reliever Carlos Torres. On the first pitch he saw from Cardinals' closer Trevor Rosenthal, Mayberry Jr. delivered with a walk-off RBI-single to short.
The Philadelphia Phillies (17-23) are currently 6.5 games behind the Mets, who lead the National League East division.
Mayberry Jr. was drafted by the Texas Rangers 19th overall in the 2005 amateur draft.
22 days after the Philadelphia Phillies won their second World Series championship in franchise history, on November 20, 2008, the Kansas City, Missouri native was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for outfielder Greg Golson.
| Year | Age | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 25 | PHI | 39 | 60 | 57 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23 | .211 | .250 | .474 | .724 |
| 2010 | 26 | PHI | 11 | 13 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .333 | .385 | .833 | 1.218 |
| 2011 | 27 | PHI | 104 | 296 | 267 | 37 | 73 | 17 | 1 | 15 | 49 | 8 | 3 | 26 | 55 | .273 | .341 | .513 | .854 |
| 2012 | 28 | PHI | 149 | 479 | 441 | 53 | 108 | 24 | 0 | 14 | 46 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 111 | .245 | .301 | .395 | .695 |
| 2013 | 29 | PHI | 134 | 384 | 353 | 47 | 80 | 23 | 1 | 11 | 39 | 5 | 3 | 27 | 90 | .227 | .286 | .391 | .677 |
| 2014 | 30 | TOT | 78 | 168 | 146 | 15 | 31 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 35 | .212 | .310 | .425 | .734 |
| 2014 | 30 | PHI | 63 | 138 | 122 | 11 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 30 | .213 | .304 | .418 | .722 |
| 2014 | 30 | TOR | 15 | 30 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | .208 | .333 | .458 | .792 |
| 2015 | 31 | NYM | 19 | 39 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 | .139 | .205 | .278 | .483 |
| 7 Yrs | 534 | 1439 | 1312 | 166 | 313 | 77 | 3 | 54 | 175 | 15 | 7 | 113 | 329 | .239 | .302 | .425 | .728 | ||
| PHI (6 yrs) | 500 | 1370 | 1252 | 160 | 303 | 74 | 2 | 52 | 169 | 14 | 7 | 105 | 313 | .242 | .304 | .429 | .733 | ||
| NYM (1 yr) | 19 | 39 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 | .139 | .205 | .278 | .483 | ||
| TOR (1 yr) | 15 | 30 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | .208 | .333 | .458 | .792 | ||
Over 500 career games as a Phillie from 2009-2014, Mayberry Jr. batted .242/.304/.429 with 52 home runs and 162 runs-batted-in. He hit a home run in his major league debut on May 23, 2009 against three-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, left hander Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees.
On August 31 of last season, the waiver trade deadline, Mayberry Jr. was dealt to Toronto in exchange for minor league infielder Gustavo Pierre. In 15 September games as a Blue Jay, he had five hits in 24 at-bats (.208 average), four of which were for extra-bases.
Pierre, 23, is batting .242/.279/.333 with two home runs and five runs-batted-in over 104 plate appearances this season with the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. He has had 72 fielding chances at the hot corner, and has committed five errors.
Mayberry Jr. signed a one-year, $1.45 million contract with the New York Mets on December 15, 2014. Prior to his heroic, pinch-hit at-bat last evening, he had just one hit in his previous 23 at-bats this season, and four hits over his previous 35 at-bats.
He is the son of 15-year MLB veteran and two-time All-Star, John Mayberry Sr.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
