Phillies Drop Memorial Day Game To Mets 6-3
NEW YORK (AP) — Wilmer Flores hit a tiebreaking three-run homer off Justin De Fratus in the sixth inning to help Bartolo Colon win a day after the pitcher's 42nd birthday, and the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 Monday to stop a three-game losing streak.
With the score 3-all, Daniel Murphy led off the sixth with a single off Elvis Araujo (1-1), De Fratus walked Michael Cuddyer and Flores homered off the original 16-foot left-field wall, over the 8-foot blue fence erected in front of it for the 2012 season.
Colon (7-4) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, benefiting from plate umpire Larry Vanover's seemingly wide strike zone. Five of Colon's six strikeouts were looking, including Ben Revere, Freddy Galvis and Chase Utley opening the game. He entered with 46 strikeouts and three walks but gave opposing pitcher Severino Gonzalez a free pass leading off the fifth.
"He's been pitching for 50 years," Mets manager Terry Collins said playfully before the game. "I just think it's a matter of him locating."
Colon tied Michael Wacha of St. Louis and Felix Hernandez of Seattle for the big league lead in wins. He also singled for his second hit since 2002 and second this season — his helmet stayed on this time — and chugged from second to third on a flyout.
Jeurys Familia pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances, completing the Mets' 18th win in their last 23 games against the Phillies.
New York, which had lost five of its previous six games, improved to 18-6 at home this season. Collins held a rare in-season team meeting after Sunday's defeat in Pittsburgh.
"This isn't football. You give more than one speech a month, they're going to turn you off," he said.
Center fielder Juan Lagares (right armpit and elbow discomfort) and first baseman Lucas Duda (tight right hamstring) returned after missing Sunday's game. Danny Muno was at third in his first big league start in the field.
Philadelphia has dropped five of seven following a season-best six-game winning streak.
Gonzalez (2-2), in the Phillies' rotation following injuries to Chad Billingsley and David Buchanan, struck out a career-high eight in 4 1-3 innings. He allowed three runs and six hits.
Mets batters struck out nine times, ending a streak of three straight games in double digits.
Murphy hit an RBI single in the first — matching the Mets' total of first-inning runs in their previous 23 games, according to STATS.
Utley's two-run single put the Phillies ahead in the third, but Lucas Duda tied it in the bottom half with a home run into the bridge seats in right-center. A white-uniformed Navy sailor watching the Memorial Day game retrieved the ball.
New York's Michael Cuddyer homered into the second deck in left in the fourth, and Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly tied it in the fifth. Howard earlier had a rare opposite-field hit to left off the end of his bat and through the opening in the shifted infield.
SPEED DEMON
Slow-footed Mets C Anthony Recker stole a base in the sixth, the second of his career and the first for the Mets since May 17.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: C Travis D'Arnaud, who broke his right pinkie on April 19, is slated to play five innings Tuesday in extended spring training. He could start an injury rehab stint at St. Lucie the following day, move to Triple-A Las Vegas later in the week and rejoin the Mets during a trip to San Diego and Arizona from June 1-7.
UP NEXT
Phillies: Jerome Williams (3-4), who starts Tuesday, allowed five runs — four earned — and 10 hits over five innings in an April 15 loss at Citi Field.
Mets: Jacob deGrom (5-4), coming off eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball against St. Louis, starts for New York on Tuesday.
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