The New York Mets (48-41) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (42-49) by a score of 5-3 at Citizens Bank Park Friday evening. With a Washington Nationals win, the Mets will remain six games back of the division lead.
Pitching:
Bartolo Colon was on the hill for the Mets tonight and he was very good early. After making the trip across country to the All-Star game and not being able to get in the game, Colon came out firing tonight. Colon had a perfect game going with one out in the fifth. All in all, Colon went 5.2 innings giving up three runs, walking two, and striking out four.
Everything was going great for Colon until the bottom of the sixth inning. With the Mets up 4-0, the wheels fell off. After Colon got Jimmy Paredes to ground out, Odubel Herrera was able to reach first base on a throwing error by James Loney. Peter Bourjos made the Mets pay for the error as he followed with a triple to score Herrera. Colon was then able to get Maikel Franco to ground out but Bourjos would come in to score the Phillies second run.
The Phillies weren’t done yet. Tommy Joseph followed with a single, Cameron Rupp walked and Cody Asche then followed with a single to score Tommy Joseph. Colon’s day was done after that.
Hansel Robles came in to finally record the last out and get the Mets out of the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Terry Collins used three relievers to get through the inning. Hansel Robles, Jerry Blevins, and Addison Reed all recorded an out to get through the scoreless inning.
Addison came back on in the eighth and pitched another 1, 2, 3 inning. Addison Reed is a stud.
Jeurys Familia came on to shut the door in the ninth. Familia put them down in order for his 32nd save in 32 chances this year.
Offense:
Juan Lagares put the Mets up 1-0 in the top of the third. Lagares, filling in for Yoenis Cespedes, hit a moon shot over the left center field wall.
In the top of the sixth, the Mets added on a few more. Asdrubal Cabrera lead off the inning with a single to center fielder Odubel Herrera. Curtis Granderson followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Neil Walker was next and he cleared them all, hitting his 16th home run of the year over the left field wall to put the Mets up 4-0.
The Mets played some small ball in the top of the seventh to manufacture another insurance run. Juan Lagares worked a walk to lead off the inning. With Alejandro De Aza batting, Lagares took off and stole second easily. De Aza worked a tough at bat and was able to hit a long fly ball to the warning track to let Lagares tag and go to third. Lagares was running on contact and when Reyes grounded out to the short stop, Lagares was already home long before the throw could come home giving the Mets a 5-3 lead.
Notes:
Jeurys Familia has saved 48 consecutive regular season games, the fifth longest streak in Major League history.
Zack Wheeler has thrown twice since his latest setback. He is expected to start an assignment soon.
Sandy Alderson mentioned relief pitching would be a priority at the upcoming deadline.
Noah Syndergaard is feeling like he “has a new arm” after his latest bullpen session.
Lucas Duda is slated to start baseball activities next week.
Yulieski Gurriel signed with Astros to a 5-year, $47.5 million dollar deal.
JZ Player of the Game: Juan Lagares. Lagares, who wasn’t expected to play tonight, was the difference tonight filling in for Cespedes. Lagares hit a home run, walked twice, and scored twice.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a three game set with the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen’s Bank Park tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:05 PM. Logan Verrett (3-6, 4.34 ERA) looks to keep the Mets rolling against Jerad Eickhoff (6-10, 3.80 ERA).
