September 21, 2001: Piazza's Patriotic Blast
From The Met Wiki
| Date: September 21, 2001 |
| Mets starter: Bruce Chen |
| Mets: 3 |
| Braves: 2 |
| Winning pitcher: Armando Benitez |
| Key player(s): Mike Piazza |
| Key play: Piazza'a home run in 8th |
Ten days after the infamous attack on the World Trade Center, the Mets faced the Braves at Shea Stadium. It was New York City's first sporting event since the terrorists' actions. Mike Piazza lifted the spirits of all New Yorkers with a mammoth eighth inning home run to give the Mets a 3-2 win over Atlanta.
Bruce Chen and Atlanta's Jason Marquis each started the game by pitching three shutout innings. In the fourth, Ken Caminiti hit a two-out double to score Chipper Jones to put the Braves on top, 1-0. The Mets tied it in the bottom half on Tsuyoshi Shinjo's sacrifice fly to score Piazza.
Chen continued through the end of the seventh inning, allowing only three more hits as the game remained tied. John Franco entered in the eighth and retired the first two Braves' hitters. John then walked Julio Franco and gave up a single to Jones. Armando Benitez came in and surrendered a double to Brian Jordan, scoring pinch-runner Cory Aldridge to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead.
Edgardo Alfonzo drew a one-out walk from Braves' reliever Steve Karsay in the bottom of the eighth. After Desi Relaford came in as a pinch-runner, Piazza stepped up to the plate. Mike drilled a pitch from Karsay way over the center field wall for a two-run homer to put the Mets in front. The Shea crowd of 41,235 gave Piazza a rousing ovation after waiting so long for a reason to cheer.
Benitez shut down the Braves in the ninth, ending the game with a double play grounder by Keith Lockhart. The Mets had an emotional victory at a time when New York needed one. Piazza's gigantic winning homer served as a message that the city, the nation and baseball itself will endure.
