Bartolo Colon sailed through the first four innings of the Mets’ 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies to kick off the second half of the season before running into trouble. Big Sexy gave way to the bullpen with two outs in the sixth, who as they have done many times this year, dominated the rest of the way.
“Everything worked out for the most part,” Colon said through an interpreter. “Just around the fifth and sixth inning, I got a little tired. That’s when things got a little complicated.” (MLB.com)
With two on and two-out, Hansel Robles relieved Colon. The Phillies threatening to tie the game, Robles quickly came in and was able to get Freddy Galvis to pop out to end the threat. Robles would continue on to pitch the seventh, before giving way to Addison Reed with two outs.
Reed of course did what he seems to do best this season and that is dominate the opposition. He made quick work of Bourjos in the seventh and went on to pitch a perfect eighth inning to pave way for Jeurys Familia. Reed has been stellar this season, pitching to a 2.02 ERA and accumulating 53 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched to go along with a WHIP of 0.88.
Familia made quick work of the Phillies, going right after them, striking out two of the three batters he faced to earn his 32nd save of the season. His streak of consecutive saves has now reached 48 as he passes Brad Lidge for sole possession of fifth place on the all-time consecutive saves list.
The 3.1 innings of scoreless relief helped the Mets get the second-half of the season started off on the right note as they look to scratch and claw their way back to the top of the NL East. If the bullpen is able to perform this well to go along with the great starting staff, the team could go on quite a run at just the right time.
