Fresh off a trip to the All-Star Game (though he didn’t appear in the game), Bartolo Colon started the Mets second-half opener, opposed by Jeremy Hellickson and the Phillies. Yoenis Cespedes remained out of the lineup with a quad injury, so Juan Lagares got a rare start in center field against a right-handed starting pitcher. The Phillies, meanwhile, looked to continue their pre-All Star Break hot streak, when they led the National League with a .308 batting average and an .849 OPS over the final two weeks of the first half.
The Mets offense got off to a sluggish start, doing nothing with a one-out single from Asdrubal Cabrera in the first inning and going in order in the second. Lagares finally broke through in the third, launching a long solo home run (estimated at 420 feet) to left center to put the Mets up 1-0.
Unfortunately, the Mets carried over their first-half issues with runners in scoring position, failing on multiple occasions to add insurance runs. James Loney doubled with two outs in the fourth, but was stranded after an 11-pitch Travis d’Arnaud at-bat ended with a 6-3 groundout. In the fifth, Brandon Nimmo lead off with a single and advanced on a wild pitch with two outs, but was also stranded. Without additional home runs and a continued failure to hit with RISP, the lead remained 1-0.
Thankfully, Colon was cruising against the Phillies. He retired the first nine batters in order on only 24 pitches, and didn’t allow a baserunner until the 14th batter of the game when Cameron Rupp grounded a ball up the middle into center field. Cody Asche followed that with a walk to put runners on first and second, but Colon escaped that jam by striking out Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez.
Just as Colon began to falter, the Met offense kicked in again. Cabrera and Curtis Granderson singled to start the top of the sixth before Neil Walker hit a three-run home run to the opposite field that pushed the Met lead to 4-0. Loney, d’Arnaud and Nimmo went down in order after Walker’s bomb, but the Mets had stretched the lead and ended Jeremy Hellickson’s night.
And the Mets would need all three of those runs. An error by Loney on a throw to Colon covering first opened the flood gates for the Philly offense. Peter Bourjos drove in the first with a triple to left-center, then scored on a Maikel Franco ground out. Colon then allowed a hit and a walk before giving up a bloop hit to Cody Asche that drove in the third Philly run of the inning and chased Colon from the game. Hansel Robles ended the inning with a pop up from Galvis, but the lead was cut to one.
Of course, keeping the deficit at one would be no easy task for the tire fire that is the Philadelphia bullpen. True to form, they immediately let the Mets add some insurance. Lagares walked to lead off the inning, stole second, advanced to third on a fly out from Alejandro De Aza then scored on a ground ball from Jose Reyes where he beat the throw home. Cabrera followed with a double, putting runners on second and third with one out, but Granderson and Walker failed to drive either runner in. Nevertheless, the Mets had a bit of breathing room with a 5-3 lead.
Robles remained in the game and started the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout of Hernandez. Pinch hitter Ryan Howard then tapped a slow dribbler up the third base line that Robles could not make the play on. That would be Robles’s last batter, as Terry Collins called for Jerry Blevins to face Odubel Herrera. Herrera was totally overmatched, striking out on three pitches, and that would be the only batter Blevins would face. Addison Reed entered in a double switch (Wilmer Flores replaced Walker at second base) and quickly retired Bourjos on a weak comebacker to end the inning.
Reed was excellent again in the eighth, setting down Maikel Franco, Tommy Joseph (with some help from Reyes on a slow dribbler), and Cameron Rupp in order to set the stage for Jeurys Familia. Familia’s dominance continued, as Asche, Galvis and Hernandez simply looked overmatched as Familia converted his 32nd save in 32 tries this season.
The win lets the Mets keep pace six game back of the Nationals, who topped the Pirates 5-1. Logan Verrett toes the mound in the Mets’ second post-All Star Break game on Saturday.
Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports