After a 14 inning win by the Phillies (24-28), they were right back at it for 3:05pm game against the New York Mets (25-29). Today, the Phillies sent right-hander Kyle Kendrick (1-5 4.04 ERA) to the hill looking to build off his excellent start on Memorial Day that led to a 9-0 win over the Rockies. The Mets opposed with rookie starter, Jacob deGrom (0-2 1.83 ERA).
The Game: The Mets struck right off the bat in the first inning. Kendrick allowed the first two batters to reach base on singles before David Wright lined out to Marlon Byrd, who made a fantastic diving catch. But with two outs, former Phillie, Bobby Abreu singled in the Mets first run. Lucas Duda followed with a double to score the next run. Kendrick escaped the inning with a strike out of Anthony Recker. 2-0 Mets
In the fourth inning, Ruben Tejada homered to left field to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. The Mets continued to add on in the sixth. With one out, Bobby Abreu doubled to left. Kendrick then intentionally walked Duda. Then with two outs, Ruben Tejada singled to left to plate another run. 4-0 Mets
Finally in the seventh, the Phillies broke through. Jimmy Rollins led off with a single and Chase Utley walked. Ryan Howard then crushed a three run opposite field homer to bring the Phillies within striking distance. The Phils had a chance in the eighth. With one out, Ben Revere tripled, but the Phillies failed to bring him in to tie the game. 4-3 Mets
To lead off the bottom of the ninth, Marlon Byrd hit a ground rule double to give the Phillies hope. Then Domonic Brown came in the clutch and hit a single to left to tie the game. Cesar Hernandez then bunted Brown to second. Reid Brignac, who was last night’s hero in the 14th, struck out to bring Carlos Ruiz up to the plate, pinch-hitting for Jonathan Papelbon. However, Ruiz popped out to send the game to extra innings for the second game in a row.
Jeff Manship came in the top of the tenth and made quick work of the Mets with ten pitches to bring up the Phillies top of the lineup with a chance to end the game. Ben Revere led off a single to bring Jimmy Rollins up to the plate. Revere then stole second. Rollins then worked a walk to bring Chase Utley to the plate. Utley popped out for the first out. Howard hit a fielders choice for the second out, but moved Revere to third for Marlon Byrd. But, Byrd struck out to send the game to the eleventh.
With the nine up and nine down ,Manship's stellar relief outing gave the Phillies a chance with Ruiz leading off the inning. With a 2-2 count, Ruiz hit a grounder up the middle for a single. Revere then popped up a bunt attempt to bring Rollins up. Rollins then hit a sharp line out to center for the second out. Chase Utley couldn't get it done as he hit a sharp line out to warning track to send the game to the 13th inning.
After going 12 up 12 down and striking out the side, Ryan Howard led off with a single to center field. Marlon Byrd then worked a walk to bring up Domonic Brown up. Brown then hit a double play to bring Manship to the plate. Manship then hit a groundball that he almost beat out which would have ended the ball game, but injured himself running down the line to end his night.
In the top of the 14th, Antonio Bastardo walked Ruben Tejada. Then Lagares bunted him to second. Daniel Murphy then popped out to bring David Wright to the plate. Wright hit a single to give the Mets the lead. With the Phillies down by one, Reid Brignac led off the bottom of 14th with a walk. Carlos Ruiz then followed with a single. Ben Revere then struck out to bring Jimmy Rollins to the plate. Jimmy Rollins then hit a sharp fly ball to right for the second out to bring Chase Utley up for the Phillies final hope. Utley struck out to end the game 5-4.
Significant Offensive Statistics:
Ryan Howard 2-6 HR, 3 RBI
Marlon Byrd 1-5 R
Domonic Brown 1-5 RBI
Impact: The Phillies lost in the 14th, but had numerous chances in extras and couldn’t capitalize. Ben Revere holds some of the blame after missed bunt attempts. Also, Antonio Bastardo has continued to struggle with his command this season, which led to the game winning hit by David Wright. He will need to improve if he wants to remain a part of the back end of the Phillies bullpen with Jake Diekman and Mario Hollands emerging as dominant left hands in the pen.
Up Next: The Phillies play game four of their five-game set tomorrow at 1:35 pm on CSN. Cole Hamels (1-3 4.43 ERA) will look to get his second win of the season as the Mets send veteran Jonathan Niese (3-3 2.74 ERA). Niese is coming off a short outing of 5.2 innings but only gave up 2 runs. Hamels on the other hand, took the lose to the Rockies going seven inning giving up four runs with three of them off a home run in the seventh.
Andrew Shipotofsky is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on twitter @Ashipotofsky
