Amed Rosario had three RBIs Sunday night, including a two-run single that capped a four-run second inning and catapulted the New York Mets to an 8-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the Little League Classic at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pa.
Winning the annual game at the site of the Little League World Series gave the Mets a series win in an unusual five-game set between the teams, who played the first four games at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park. New York set a flurry of franchise records in winning the first game of a doubleheader, 24-4, on Thursday before ace Jacob deGrom threw the team's first complete game of the season in a 3-1 victory Saturday.
The Mets have won eight of 12. The Phillies, who have lost six of 10, missed a chance to move ahead of the Atlanta Braves into first place in the National League East.
The Mets opened the second inning with four consecutive singles against Nick Pivetta (7-10). Todd Frazier, who won the Little League World Series as a member of the Toms River, N.J., team 20 years ago, led off with a hit, went to third on Austin Jackson's single and scored on Jose Bautista's single. Jackson raced home on Kevin Plawecki's hit.
After pitcher Jason Vargas bunted, Rosario laced his two-run single.
Jeff McNeil hit a two-run single in the fourth before Rosario added another RBI single in the sixth. Dominic Smith, serving as the Mets' 26th man, had New York's lone extra-base hit, a pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth.
Rosario finished with three hits.
Vargas (3-8) allowed two runs on six hits and no walks. He struck out three over 5 1/3 innings. It was the first win since May 30 for Vargas, who blanked the Phillies until Carlos Santana's two-run homer in the sixth.
Pivetta gave up six runs on eight hits and one walk. He fanned five over 3 2/3 innings.
--Field Level Media
NY Mets | Philadelphia | |
Jason Vargas | Player | Nick Pivetta |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.1 | IP | 3.2 |
3 | Strikeouts | 5 |
6 | Hits | 8 |
3.38 | ERA | 14.73 |
NY Mets | Philadelphia | |
Amed Rosario | Player | Roman Quinn |
3 | Hits | 1 |
3 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 1 |
.600 | Avg | 1.000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
NY Mets | 14 | 0 | 15 | .378 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Philadelphia | 8 | 1 | 13 | .235 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |