The Arizona Diamondbacks came out on top against the New York Mets on Thursday, coming away with a 5-4 victory after 15 innings of back-and-forth play.
New York struck first, scoring a run in the bottom of the fourth on a Marlon Byrd groundout that scored David Wright and gave the Mets an early 1-0 lead.
Arizona would quickly respond in the top of the fifth, as Wil Nieves ripped a two-run single to center, scoring both Cody Ross and Gerardo Parra to put the Diamondbacks on top by a score of 2-1.
The game would remain tied until the 13th inning, which allowed for both pitching staffs to showcase their respective talents on Independence Day.
New York’s Gee turned in a solid outing, working seven innings and surrendering two runs on six hits, while striking out seven and walking two.
The Mets’ power pitcher was matched pitch-for-pitch by Arizona’s Ian Kennedy, who also turned in seven strong innings of work. Kennedy surrendered two runs on eights hits and struck eight while walking two.
Both bullpens would pitch lock-down baseball, until Arizona broke the offensive silence in the top of the 13th on a bases loaded walk, scoring Ross and putting the Diamondbacks ahead 3-2.
The Mets would respond with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. Both teams would do the same in the 14th, scoring single runs in the top and bottom frames.
However, it would be Cliff Pennington‘s RBI single in the top of the 15th that would serve as the final offensive dagger for Arizona, as Brad Ziegler would close out the game in the bottom of the frame for his first save of the season.
“There’s no question this team will fight to the end of the game,” Ziegler said. “It’s just two really competitive teams going out and putting on a show on a holiday.”
A show indeed it was, as both teams put on an exciting back-and-forth slugfest on Independence Day, as Arizona came away with the 7-5 marathon victory.
