The Mets (71-56) beat the Phillies (50-78) by a score of 9-5 in 13 innings on Thursday night in Philadelphia, completing a four-game sweep of their formerly formidable rivals and extending their winning streak to seven.
Jon Niese struggled on the mound for the Mets, although all of the damage came in one inning. Niese allowed five runs on five walks and five hits in six innings of work.
After the Mets left the bases loaded in the top of the second against Aaron Harang, the Phils scored five in the bottom of the third, on a 2-run single from Jeff Francoeur, an RBI groundout by Aaron Altherr, and a two-run shot off the bat of Darin Ruf.
The Mets got two of those runs back in the next inning, when David Wright singled and Travis d’Arnaud hit the Mets’ franchise-record-breaking 41st home run of the month. Michael Conforto followed with a double, but the Mets, who struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, could not bring him home.
The Mets evened it up in the top of the fifth, with some more help from the long-ball. Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff single, and Yoenis Cespedes (PAY THE MAN!) uncorked a two-run blast to cut the gap to 5-4. With two outs, Kelly Johnson went deep to tie the ballgame.
The Mets squandered many opportunities in the late innings, but Niese settled in, and after his departure, the bullpen shut down the Phillies, with Logan Verrett, Hansel Robles, Sean Gilmartin, and Carlos Torres doing the honors. The Mets escaped defeat in the tenth when Dominic Brown’s would-be walk-off home run hooked just foul. Moments later, the Mets turned in the Play of the Year, when Carlos Torres kicked a sharp grounder into the hole, where Daniel Murphy changed direction, dived to snare it, fired the throw to Torres covering the bag to nab Francoeur at first (words don’t come close to doing it justice… here it is)
Batting for himself in the top of the 13th inning, Carlos Torres hit a leadoff single, and Granderson followed with another base-hit. Cespedes flew out, but Daniel Murphy hit a two-run double and took third on a throwing error. Wright then reached second on another throwing error as Murphy came to make it 8-5, and the Captain scored on an RBI single from Conforto. Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning to seal the 9-5 victory.
This team is HOT. Even their nail-biters end up being near-blowouts. They don’t quit, either. And if they keep hitting Home Runs like this, no deficit will be too large to overcome.
Niese did a solid job of bouncing back, and the bullpen was marvelous tonight.
The Phillies are bad. So were the Rockies. But make no mistake… these Mets are GOOD.
Up Next: The Mets will host the Red Sox on Friday night at Citi Field. Matt Harvey (11-7, 2.57 ERA) will face Henry Owens (2-1, 4.50 ERA) at 7:10 PM.
