Phillies 8, Mets 7: Ryan Howard went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs while pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth boosted Philadelphia to a dramatic home victory after it gave up a six-run lead.
Jonathan Papelbon (2-0) blew his second straight save opportunity and third in four chances by giving up two runs in the ninth, but Frandsen rescued him when he belted the second fastball he saw from Carlos Torres (0-1) deep into the left-field stands for the Phillies’ fifth walk-off victory.
Howard and Michael Young homered on consecutive pitches in the fifth inning for the Phillies, who have won 10 of the last 12 meetings between the National League East rivals.
Howard put the Phillies on the board in the first with a two-run single up the middle and answered Jordany Valdespin’s third-inning RBI groundout with a solo blast off Dillon Gee in the fourth. Ben Revere’s run-scoring single capped a two-run fourth.
Revere pushed the lead to 7-1 on a throwing error in the sixth, but the Mets rallied with four runs in the seventh off Michael Stutes after he was pressed into duty following Jonathan Pettibone’s departure with a back injury. Valdespin trimmed the gap to 7-6 with a solo shot off Papelbon while Daniel Murphy’s hit-and-run grounder to left-center allowed David Wright to score from first.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Howard is 7-for-15 with six home runs and 14 RBIs against Gee in his career. The three-time All-Star is batting 18-for-41 with 11 RBIs over his last 11 games. … Gee entered Saturday with a 3-1 record and 1.53 ERA over his four previous outings, but fell to 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA against Philadelphia this season. … Revere matched his career high with three steals.
NY Mets | Philadelphia | |
Dillon Gee | Player | Jonathan Pettibone |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 6.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 1 |
8 | Hits | 5 |
9.00 | ERA | 1.50 |
NY Mets | Philadelphia | |
Omar Quintanilla | Player | Ryan Howard |
3 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 4 |
0 | HR | 2 |
3 | TB | 9 |
.750 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
NY Mets | 10 | 1 | 14 | .270 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Philadelphia | 12 | 4 | 26 | .343 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 |