By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
The day featured several firsts, and another could be fast approaching.
New York Mets reliever Bobby Parnell, an East Rowan High School graduate, collected a hit in the first plate appearance of his major league career and then registered his first save while finishing off a 9-0 home victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon.
“To go out there and be able to fill in some innings when they needed me to was definitely a big step for me,” Parnell said in a telephone interview. “To get my first hit and get my first save all in the same day, I was really at a loss for words.”
Parnell pitched two scoreless innings Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He didn’t allow a run in three innings Wednesday, when Mets starter Jonathon Niese suffered a season-ending hamstring tear.
Niese had taken over as the fifth member of the rotation, and Nelson Figueroa struggled mightily in a spot start Monday before bouncing back in a relief role Wednesday.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel acknowledged that he purposely increased the workload for Parnell, who moved through the minor leagues as a starting pitcher but has contributed only as a reliever since being called up last September.
Parnell, who went 27-30 in the minors, could possibly start Monday at Arizona.
“That is a consideration,” Manuel told reporters in New York. “That was a part of the plan today going forward. That was part of why we did what we did today.”
The Mets boarded a plane bound for San Diego shortly after the game, and Parnell was on cloud nine after receiving an ovation from the Citi Field crowd.
He grabbed a helmet, proceeded to the on-deck circle and walked to the plate with St. Louis reliever Brad Thompson on the mound in the eighth inning. Parnell fouled off a trio of two-strike offerings and ended an eight-pitch at-bat by lining a single to center.
“I was just trying not to look stupid at the plate,” Parnell said. “I haven’t seen a baseball pitched to me in two months or so since we were at Fenway and I was taking home-run hacks (in batting practice). I just wanted to put the ball in play and be a hard out and make the pitcher work a little bit.
“I got him to 2-2, and I felt like I had done my job to make him throw five pitches. I just happened to put one off the fist of the bat and be able to push it into the outfield.”
First-base coach Luis Alicea retrieved the ball before tossing it into the dugout, and Parnell scored on Angel Pagan’s home run.
“Really, I just got lucky,” Parnell said. “They threw it in, and Livan Hernandez did the old trick where he catches it and pretends he’s going to throw it into the stands. That put a smile on my face because you know it’s real when that kind of stuff happens and they’re joking around with you. I never expected to even get an at-bat this year.”
Parnell batted .298 with one home run as an East Rowan varsity player and .254 with five homers in four seasons with the Rowan County American Legion team. A first baseman who didn’t pitch for Rowan during its state title run in 2002, Parnell hit .301 with two homers and 25 RBIs.
He had three hits, four sacrifices and two walks in 38 plate appearances as a minor leaguer.
“Even down to Little League, I had a bunch of coaches that always would say, ‘Here, hit off a tee,’ and it would never click for me,” said Parnell, who praised coaches such as Jeff Safrit, Jim Gantt and Guy Wirt for working to make him a better hitter. “I was never the big power guy or the on-base guy. To actually come out here and have a big league hit, it’s like a dream come true.”
Parnell returned to the field for the top of the ninth Wednesday, and only a two-out single prevented him from posting three perfect innings.
He struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh, and Albert Pujols faced a 3-0 count in the eighth before grounding out to third base.
Parnell lowered his ERA to 3.74 and fanned three hitters in the longest outing of his brief MLB career.
“I’ve been able to open up the plate and let my pitches work for me a lot better,” Parnell said. “My slider was there in the zone, and my changeup was effective. I just had everything working for me.”
Parnell’s first full season in the majors has been eventful.
He picked up his first win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in early May and hit 100 mph on the Fenway Park radar gun two weeks later.
First baseman Daniel Murphy made a behind-the-back flip with Parnell hustling to cover the bag during a highlight-reel forceout in early July, and Parnell completed that month without officially allowing a run.
A role reversal putting Parnell in the rotation could be next.
“I’d be comfortable doing anything,” he said. “I haven’t heard either way what we’ll do, but I’ll just focus on being in the bullpen until I’m asked to do otherwise.
“If they ask me to do it, I’ll try to help the team out however I can. Being up here pitching in the big leagues, I’d rather be doing that than anything else.”