Mets making a habit of playing extra-inning games

PITTSBURGH -- Extra-inning games are a part of baseball, but that isn't making the Mets' time with them any easier.

New York has played 19 extra innings already this month, and 12 extra-inning games this season, tied for the fourth most in the National League entering Saturday. Five of those games have gone 13 frames or more, including a 20-inning marathon with Miami in early June.

"I'd rather not play any extra-inning games. I'd rather win in nine, or 8 1/2," third baseman David Wright said. "Extra innings every once in a while aren't that bad, but when you make a habit out of it like we do, on top of that, not just play 10 or 11, we have a tendency to play more than that. For sure, it catches up with you."

The Mets clawed back from a 2-0 deficit Friday night with a run in the sixth and seventh to force extra innings, but they used four pitchers in the ninth and eventually lost on a seeing-eye single in the 11th.

"Nobody plays more extra-inning games than us," manager Terry Collins said. "That tells you we're fighting and we're hanging in there and our pitching is keeping us in some games."