Mets 7 – Padres 2
SAN DIEGO – He wasn’t old last night. Julio Franco looked timeless.
Franco, the 47-year-old Met grandfather who is the oldest player in the game, was the hero last night, coming up as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth inning with the Mets down a run against the Padres and a runner on second. Franco drove an oppositefield, two-run homer off reliever Scott Linebrink, highlighting a six-run frame in an enormous 7-2 comeback road win.
With the shot, Franco – who is 47 years, 240 days old – became the oldest major-leaguer ever to hit a homer. But the achievement is less significant for the Mets than the win.
“It means a lot because we won the ballgame, first of all,” Franco said.
The Mets came into last night having lost two straight to the Braves, scoring just one run on three hits in each of the two defeats. Through seven innings last night, they had one run on four hits against San Diego ace Jake Peavy.
In the eighth, however, Peavy was out, and former Padre Xavier Nady led off with a double off Linebrink.
One out later, Franco took a 1-0 Linebrink pitch over the right-field wall. The Mets (11-4) then added four more runs in the inning. Endy Chavez drove in Jose Reyes with an impressive two-out, squeeze-bunt single. Carlos Delgado blasted a two-run homer to right, and Cliff Floyd added an RBI single. Ten Mets batted in the inning, as the team had six hits.
Steve Trachsel got a no-decision but pitched sixplus innings, allowing just two runs on six hits. The Mets’ bullpen – Chad Bradford, Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez, Aaron Heilman and Jorge Julio – pitched three scoreless frames.
The bullpen was also part of helping the Mets work out of a jam in the seventh, as the Padres loaded the bases with nobody out. But Willie Randolph did a fine job managing, bringing in Feliciano, who got Geoff Blum on a foul pop-up. Then Randolph brought in Sanchez to face Eric Young, whose hard grounder to third was nabbed by David Wright, starting an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
“The dugout was really rocking after that,” Randolph said, “so [it] gave us a nice little boost and we were able to get some offense going.”
Trachsel gave up a run in the first inning, as Dave Roberts tripled to right to lead off. One out later, Brian Giles singled him home, bringing up Mike Piazza for his first at-bat against his old club. Piazza hit into a 5-4-3 double play and went 0-for-3 on the night.
The other man facing his former team last night was Nady, and the Mets’ rightfielder had his chance against the Padres in the second. He came up with Wright, who had doubled, on third and two outs.
Nady, who got decent cheers when announced in the inning, had said in pregame that Peavy and he “were good friends.” But last night, Nady went down swinging at a 94-mph fastball.
Down 1-0 in the third, Kazuo Matsui tied it with an inside-the-park homer, the third straight year he’s homered in his first at-bat of the season. The Padres went ahead 2-1 in the third on Roberts’ RBI single.
