Phillies Supermen Defeat Dark Night of Gotham
By Matt Veasey
3. 5. 6. Final. 2
The Philadelphia Phillies won for a second straight day in the Big Apple to take a weekend series from the host Mets at Citi Field.
Receiving their fourth strong starting pitching outing in six games, the Phillies got another solid effort from their embattled bullpen. Meanwhile, the offense produced a couple of key late runs to clinch the 5-2 victory and raise the club’s record to 2-4 on the 2016 season.
It was a second consecutive strong outing from new starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. The right-hander went 5.2 innings and allowed just three hits, striking out five and walking one batter.
Hellickson was removed after allowing a two-out double in the bottom of the 6th inning to David Wright, followed by a two-run home run off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. That blast cut the Phillies lead down to 3-2 at that point.
James Russell came on to record the final out of that 6th inning, and was followed by a pair of shutout innings from Hector Neris, who allowed nothing while striking out three Mets batters. Jeanmar Gomez came on in the 9th to nail down a Save for the second straight day.
The Phillies built an early 3-0 lead starting with a solo run in the top of the 3rd inning. Peter Bourjos led off with a single, and went to 3rd when Hellickson singled off Mets’ starter Matt Harvey.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis then delivered a sacrifice fly to left field off the man known as “The Dark Knight of Gotham”, putting the Phils up 1-0. That score held into the top of the 6th, when Odubel Herrera followed a Cesar Hernandez single with his first home run of the season. The two-run shot over the right-center wall extended the Phillies lead to 3-0.
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“He got a good pitch to hit and he hit it,” said Phillies manager Pete Mackanin per MLB.com’s Barry Bloom and Anthony DiComo. “He’s been swinging and fouling off a lot of what looks like good pitches to hit…We knew he was going to hit, so it was good to see him break out that way.”
Harvey exited following that frame, having allowed the three earned runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked a pair of Phillies batters on the day. Reversing a recent trend, the Phillies offense would chip away at the New York bullpen for a pair of late runs to pull away.
In the top of the 8th, the Phils loaded the bases with one out. Ryan Howard then delivered a sacrifice fly, scoring Galvis with a run to put the Phillies up 4-2. In the 9th, a one-out walk to Bourjos was followed by Andres Blanco driving an RBI double to center field to push the Phillies lead out to 5-2.
Hellickson was pleased with the start to his season, after struggling a year ago with the Arizona Diamondbacks. “It just feels good to throw well this early,” Hellickson said per Bloom and DiComo. “I haven’t had that much success in the last few Aprils. To get off to a pretty good start means a lot. I’m just keeping the ball down and feeling a lot better. That has a lot to do with it.”
The Phillies will now come home for the first time this season, thankfully having won a pair to generate some enthusiasm after starting off with four disheartening losses.
The home opener at Citizens Bank Park is set for Monday afternoon, with first pitch at 3:05pm. Aaron Nola will start for the Phils against Andrew Cashner for the Friars.