Carlos Torres was locked in from the second this game started and seemed determined to prove that he deserved a spot in this rotation. Of course, if he pitches the way he did today on a consistent basis, it’d be hard to keep him out of it — even though he’s sort of landed in the role by default by now. With Jeremy Hefner, Jenrry Mejia, and Matt Harvey all down with injury while Jacob deGrom, Rafael Montero, and Noah Syndergaard all approach innings limits, Torres has the last spot in the rotation locked up until further notice.
He was pitching like he had to fight for this rotation spot today, however, which is a good thing. He dominated the first six innings, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out six batters. He allowed two more hits in the seventh, culminating in a run after a sacrifice fly by Darin Ruf, but that was the only blemish on his record all game. He departed in favor of Scott Rice after two outs, who picked up the last out of the inning for a hold. Gonzalez Germen surrendered two runs in the eighth via home run, but it was too little, too late…
Why, you ask? Well, the Mets had already exploded for 10 runs at that point in time, scoring at least one run in each of the third through seventh innings. They would continue that streak through the eighth when Andrew Brown blasted a solo home run in that frame as well.
Murphy’s double put the Mets up 1-0 early, and Anthony Recker came through in support of Torres with a two-run moonshot. The Phillies were completely losing it when a balk scored a run for the Mets in the sixth, and Daniel Murphy followed that with an RBI single. Murphy had four hits overall. Eric Young ripped a bases-clearing triple in the seventh to break the game open for the Mets.
So on the heels of trading our most productive healthy offensive player (which was a good move in context), we break out for 11 runs and earn a split the series with the Phillies. Dillon Gee opens up the series with the Nationals tomorrow for the Mets against Jordan Zimmermann.
