Final: Phillies 14, Mets 8
WP: Jeanmar Gomez (2-3, 3.00 ERA) LP: Jon Niese (8-10, 4.17 ERA)
New York, NY – A career-high, six-RBI performance by first baseman Darin Ruf Tuesday evening helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies (53-80) to victory over the New York Mets (73-59).
As a result, Philadelphia concurrently avoided dropping a franchise-record 11 consecutive games against their division rivals, before a crowd of 30,104 at Citi Field.
According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, tonight was the first occurrence in which a Phillie recorded six runs-batted-in within a single game since right fielder Delmon Young accomplished such feat at Dodger Stadium on June 28, 2013.
Tonight's victory also marked the Phillies' first win this season at Citi Field out of eight contests. The Phillies must win each of their four remaining games against the Mets to avoid finishing with their worst season series record in franchise history.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Phillies | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| Mets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 3 |
The Phillies got on the board first in tonight's contest, in the top of the third inning, by scoring five runs off of Mets' southpaw Jon Niese.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis began the frame with a double, his 13th of the season, and soon advanced to third as Phillies' starter Aaron Harang sacrificed him to third. The next batter, center fielder Darnell Sweeney, laced a single to left field to generate his fourth-career RBI.
Three batters later, right fielder Jeff Francoeur in the cleanup position hit a RBI-single of his own, and first baseman Darin Ruf followed with a three-run blast to left field to put the Phillies up, 5-0.
This was Ruf's third career home run against Niese out of 16 total at-bats.
Two innings later, the four-year veteran picked up his fourth run-batted-in of the night with a two-out, single to left field. Ruf was called out on second during the play, as he tried to stretch the base-knock into a double.
The Mets were held off the board by Harang this evening until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Harang had retired eight consecutive batters until allowing a one-out walk to former Phillies' catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud. Right after shortstop Ruben Tejada reached on an infield single, pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson and right fielder Curtis Granderson each brought home a run with a single and groundout-RBI respectively.
New York added two additional runs off of Harang in the fifth from a two-out, two-run blast by center fielder Yoenis Cespedes. This was the Cuban-native's fourth career home run against the Phillies in just six games.
The Phillies' offensive came alive during the next half-inning, as they scored eight runs on just three hits and four walks in opposition of RHP Bobby Parnell, LHP Eric O'Flaherty, and RHP Carlos Torres.
Following back-to-back walks by third baseman Andres Blanco and catcher Carlos Ruiz, Galvis sacrificed to d'Arnaud at home, however all of the Phillies' base runners remained safe due to a pair of Mets' fielding errors. This put runners on the corners with nobody out.
O'Flaherty then entered in relief of Parnell, who was making his first appearance on the mound since August 16 due to suffering right shoulder tendinitis. After he walked pinch-hitter Cameron Rupp to load the bases, Torres entered the game and surrendered a two-run double to Sweeney, the first of the newly-acquired rookie's career, to give the Phillies a 9-4 lead.
Four batters later, Ruf and Blanco hit two-RBI singles and doubles respectively to increase their lead to 13-4.
Darin Ruf has a career-high 6 RBI tonight. He had recorded 6 total RBI in his previous 25 games. #Phillies
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) September 2, 2015
The beating would continue, as Ruiz reached safely at second off of the Mets' third error of the inning. Blanco came around to score, putting the Phillies up, 14-4.
New York decreased their deficit to nine runs in the bottom of the sixth, as d'Arnaud hit a groundout-RBI, his 31st of the season, against reliever Jeanmar Gomez.
Gomez surrendered another run in the bottom of the seventh. After Cespedes tripled to deep right field, second baseman Daniel Murphy drove him home on a RBI-single to center, his 57th of the season.
Addison Reed threw a 1-2-3 inning against the Phillies in the top of the eighth for his Mets debut. Reed was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday in exchange for minor leaguers Miller Diaz and Matt Koch.
For the third consecutive inning, the Mets scored one run to decrease their deficit. Facing right hander Luis Garcia in the eighth, shortstop Wilmer Flores drove home first baseman Michael Cuddyer with a RBI-single to right field. Cuddyer began the inning with a walk.
The Mets tacked-on another in the ninth against Jerome Williams, who was making his third relief appearance of the Phillies for the season. This run scored off of a sacrifice-fly RBI by left fielder Michael Conforto.
Starting Pitchers
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Harang | 4.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4.89 |
| Jon Niese | 5.0 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4.17 |
- Harang: ND; 87 pitches, 58 strikes; 4 groundouts, 4 flyouts; 20 faced batters
- Niese: L; 69 pitches, 46 strikes; 7 groundouts, 2 flyouts; 23 faced batters
Out of the 'Pen
Phillies
- Hector Neris (5th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.50 ERA
- Jeanmar Gomez (6th, 7th): 2.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.00 ERA
- Luis Garcia (8th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.39 ERA
- Jerome Williams (9th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 6.09 ERA
Mets
- Bobby Parnell (6th, three batters): 0.0 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 6.52 ERA
- Eric O'Flaherty (6th, one batter): 0.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 14.14 ERA
- Carlos Torres (6th): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.56 ERA
- Sean Gilmartin (7th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 2.20 ERA
- Addison Reed (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 4.10 ERA
- Erik Goeddel (9th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 1.88 ERA
At the Plate
Phillies
- Darnell Sweeney: 2-5, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, .263 AVG
- Darin Ruf: 3-5, 2 R, HR, 6 RBI, .245 AVG
- Andres Blanco: 1-4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .304 AVG
Mets
- Yoenis Cespedes: 2-4, 2 R, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, .282 AVG
- Daniel Murphy: 1-4, RBI, .280 AVG
- Travis d'Arnaud: 1-2, R, RBI, BB, .271 AVG
What's Next:
- Wednesday, September 2, 2015: at New York Mets, 7:10 pm
- RHP Aaron Nola (5-1, 3.26 ERA) vs. RHP Matt Harvey (11-7, 2.48 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT, WTTM 1680 (Sp.)
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
