The New York Mets (59-78) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (52-85) by a score of 11-7 in a Labor Day matinee to begin a three-game series at Citi Field.

Pitching: 

Rafael Montero started the game for the Mets and looked strong through the first four innings he pitched. The fifth and sixth innings proved to be a problem for him, however, as he allowed four runs and had to be pulled before finishing the sixth. His final line read as 5 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO, and he received the win.

Paul Sewald struggled as his replacement and allowed all of Montero’s inherited runners to score in addition to a run of his own in his 2/3 of an inning pitched.

Jerry Blevins stopped the bleeding in the seventh as he gave the Mets a clean inning with a strikeout.

Hansel Robles was another story as he could not complete the final two innings of the game and instead allowed two runs in the 1 2/3 innings he pitched.

Terry Collins was forced to put AJ Ramos to get the final out of the game, even though it was not a save opportunity.

Offense:

The Mets showed no signs of of being tired as the bats came out of the gates hot. They struck first in the bottom of the second as Juan Lagares drove in Kevin Plawecki on an RBI single.

The Mets continued their offensive explosion in the third inning by scoring three more runs. Jose Reyes hit a solo shot, his tenth of the year, followed by a two-run homer by Asdrubal Cabrera that was his 12th of the season.

There was no stopping the Mets offense today as they tallied six more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Gavin Cecchini drove in Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo. Jose Reyes continued with an RBI single to keep the line moving followed by an RBI ground-out by Nori Aoki. Rafael Montero scored on a wild pitch after reaching on an error. Brandon Nimmo came up again in the inning and drove in another run to extend the lead to 10-0.

Nimmo did it again in the sixth inning as he recorded his third hit and second RBI single of the day.  Kevin Plawecki, Juan Lagares, and Jose Reyes all recorded two hits each as well. That meant that outside of those three and Nimmo, the rest of the lineup was only able to record three hits.

On Deck: 

The New York Mets will send Jacob deGrom (14-8, 3.43 ERA) to the mound to face Ben Lively (2-5, 4.22 ERA) in the hopes of winning the series. The game starts at 7:10 p.m. and airs on SNY.