NEW YORK _ For every calamity there is a comparison. Such is the reality for those who close their eyes, hold their breath, and hope for something different from the Mets.
So when Asdrubal Cabrera squinted through the mist on Tuesday night, his feet shuffling uneasily as if stationed on hot coals, thousands of mental Rolodexes flipped to the card occupied by Luis Castillo. He, too, had once flubbed an easy pop-up to hurt the Mets.
But Cabrera's seventh-inning gaffe did not come in the ninth inning of a Subway Series as Castillo's did in 2009. Thus, the Mets preserved a chance for redemption, which came when Jay Bruce ripped a run-scoring single in the 12th inning to lift them to a 5-4 victory.
Pinch hitter T.J. Rivera led off the 12th with a single and Michael Conforto worked a walk. Jose Reyes, his average down to .198, failed on two bunt attempts before rolling a grounder to first that moved Rivera to third.
With the winning run 90 feet away, Bruce stung a liner to center before he was mobbed by his teammates just short of second base.
With that, the Mets somehow recovered from the chaos that flowed after Cabrera dropped Jett Bandy's bases-loaded pop-up in the seventh. It should have been the third out, preserving a two-run lead for the Mets. Instead, Cabrera did not retreat enough. The ball fell behind him.
Two runners scored to tie the score at 4, resigning the Mets to a long night of fraying nerves.
Fill-in starter Tyler Pill surrendered one run in 5 1/3 innings. He scattered six hits and walked three but struck out four _ good enough to walk a tightrope without falling. The red-hot Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer in the sixth to give the Mets a 4-1 lead.
With one gaffe, it was squandered.
One day after turning 27, Pill took the mound for his first major league start. His only previous experience in the big leagues came on Saturday, when he allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning while taking the loss in relief.
Pill had entered in the 10th inning of a tie game, hardly an easy spot to break in a rookie pitcher. But manager Terry Collins thought it important to get the right-hander a taste of what he would be facing when he was called upon to start on Tuesday.
It seemed to work. Though he posted a 1.96 ERA at Triple-A Las Vegas, Pill struck out only 23 batters in 46 innings and walked 14. When taken together, those numbers painted a picture of an escape artist, and one that couldn't be banked on to repeat those tricks.
Rival scouts expressed their skepticism as well. They questioned whether Pill could be perfect enough with his location to compensate for a fastball that barely cracks 90 mph and secondary pitches that several characterized as of only fringe major league quality.
Another evaluator expressed shock at Pill's promotion, even with the Mets desperately in need of an alternative.
Yet, just as in the minors, Pill spent an evening dodging the traffic on the bases. By the end, he had gotten away with it. Through five innings, Pill permitted nine baserunners, and only one scored. He departed with two on and one out in the sixth, though Fernando Salas stranded those inherited runners.
But in the seventh, Collins stuck with Salas, a move that backfired. The right-hander departed with one out and the bases loaded.
In his league-leading 28th appearance of the season, left-hander Jerry Blevins was tasked with cleaning up the mess. He almost succeeded. After striking out Travis Shaw, he walked Domingo Santana to force in a run, but got Bandy to sky one to short. It should have been the end of the threat. Instead, it was the beginning of a long road to redemption for the Mets.
