PHOENIX – Just when the Mets were in need of a big effort from their starting pitcher to stem the tide of a three-game losing streak, and to erase the memory of Orel Hershiser’s tough outing the night before, Masato Yoshii provided it with a scintillating performance yesterday in the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
After three straight poor outings, Yoshii has responded with two very good ones, holding the Giants and Diamondbacks scoreless over 12 innings. And the Diamondbacks went into the game with the second-most runs (162) in the league.
Considering the stakes involved, this one was one of his finest performances as a Met, as he allowed just three hits, walked one, and allowed only one Arizona runner to reach second base.
Bobby Valentine said Yoshii could have gone nine innings the way he was pitching, but he split open the fingernail on his right middle finger and so he came out in favor of Dennis Cook. The trainers put a product called liquid bandage on the nail to harden it after the fifth inning, but Yoshii tore it open again in the sixth.
“It started to spread,” Yoshii said. “It only bothered me a little bit, but I didn’t want to jeopardize my next start.”
It’s amazing to think that Yoshii, who many wanted out of the rotation altogether, has suddenly become a guy whose next start you don’t want to miss.
Yoshii said he still wasn’t sure if his move back to the third-base side of the rubber, a move he made before his last start, has made any difference, but he’s sure it didn’t hurt. He was especially dominating against left-handers, who had been crushing him to date.
Last year lefties hit .274 off him, and that was up to .316 this year. But the D-Backs’ lefties went 0-for-9 yesterday, including an 0-for-2 by Luis Gonzalez, who came into the game hitting .380. Tony Gwynn himself might have had trouble getting a hit off Yoshii yesterday. *Bobby Bonilla had a pinch-hit double in the ninth off Gregg Olson that scored Rey Ordonez from first. The ball was absolutely crushed and was indicative of how surprisingly well Bonilla has been hitting the ball in the past two games. In fact, he is working on a modest three-game hitting streak, which considering how poorly he was swinging before, is a big improvement.
“Oh yeah,” Bonilla said. “I’m starting to feel much better. Everyone was in an uproar about this except me.” *John Olerud extended streak of reaching base in all of the Mets’ 30 games by homering in the first … Diamondbacks lefty Luis Gonzalez waited until the ninth inning to extend his major league-leading hitting streak to 21 games with a single off John Franco … Starting in left field, Matt Franco hit his first homer of the season … Rigo Beltran, recalled from Norfolk, arrived in time for game but did not pitch.
