Cubs announcers made a good point on that....as do you trust Neris' command enough with the bases loaded not to walk a guy in? He walks a lot of guys.
Yea, Neris is a tough one. Coming into the game he's pitched 10 innings. The plus, he's had 10 SO's. The minus he's had 11 walks!!
Feel Counsell was playing the odds a bit. Play infield back and hope for a SO or hard hit grounder (runner on 3rd stays or runner gets thrown out at plate) to get the 2nd out.
Also, I feel the new extra inning rule is just random on who wins. In this game, both teams would mainly have had bottom of lineup up in 10th (Hoerner would have batted 3rd). So Counsell was probably not willing to lose game on a Mets base hit, but OK with extra innings with Mets hit.