Capitalizing on a key defensive miscue and working around several of their own, the Mets were able to make the most out of a bounce-back outing from Jacob deGrom to best the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1.
Leading 1-0, a throwing error by Lucas Duda in the top of the seventh set up a first-and-second situation with nobody out. After Carlos Ruiz popped out on cringe-worthy bunt attempt, Cody Asche floated a soft line over the glove of a fully extended Wilmer Flores, scoring Marlon Byrd and evening the game up at 1-1. deGrom would escape further damage on a well-executed, inning-ending double play to send it to the seventh inning stretch.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Mets would load the bases without taking the bat off their shoulders. Matt den Dekker drew a one-out walk, later taking second on a stolen base. Flores was hit by a pitch and Eric Campbell was also issued the free pass with two out for Juan Lagares.
Lagares followed with a shallow fly ball into left field.Grady Sizemore ran in to make the play, calling off Jimmy Rollins and Ben Revere, proving to be the defining play of the game. The ball would miss his glove and drop, scoring den Dekker and Flores, giving the Mets a two-run cushion.
Shortly thereafter, the Mets decided to take a calculated risk. With Campbell on third and Lagares at first, New York went for the double steal. Lagares dashed for second while Campbell raced home.
The pick-off attempt went to second, Rollins made a quick return throw home. Campbell dove headlong, slamming his left hand onto home plate, evading the tag of Ruiz, making it a 4-1 ballgame.
“He’s done a tremendous job of making of everything he can do work for him,” Terry Collins said of Campbell. “He plays all over the place, he’s a better runner than people think, he actually throws throws better than people think. He’s a nice piece to have on a team.”
After deGrom finished one of his better outings on the season, pitching seven innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits and two walks while striking out five and improving to 7-6 on the year, Familia came on and pitched a scoreless eighth.
Jenrry Mejia came on to close out the game, punching out three and converting his 20th save of the season. The 24-year-old Mejia becomes the second-youngest Mets pitcher to save 20-games and the 14th in franchise history The youngest Met to do so was Neil Allen in 1980 at the age of 22.
Dilson Herrera, the first ever Colombian-born player in team history and the 14th to appear in a major league game, went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut and had an error in the ninth inning.
Bartolo Colon gets the ball for the Mets, taking on the Phillies’ Jerome Williams at Citi Field at 7:10pm in the second of this three-game set.
Photo By Clayton Collier, MMO
