Phillies Whip Mets, Avoid Sweep
By Matt Veasey
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Mets | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The Phillies defeated the host New York Mets on Sunday afternoon in a weekend series finale at Citi Field.
The Phillies downed the division rival New York Mets by a 5-1 final score in the Sunday afternoon season finale in order to avoid being swept in the weekend series at Citi Field.
Pitching was an obviously large part of this victory, and starter Vincent Velasquez provided a typical strong but short outing.
Velasquez allowed a single earned run on five hits across five innings in which he struck out seven and walked just one batter. He threw 66 strikes across the 103-pitch effort.
When Velasquez was finally lifted, the game was knotted at 1-1. The host Mets got to him first, scoring a run in the bottom of the 1st inning for an early 1-0 lead.
The Phillies got the game tied in the top of the 4th when Jimmy Paredes‘ double off Mets starter Robert Gsellman scored Maikel Franco. Also trying to score on the play was Aaron Altherr, who was cut down at the plate.
Gsellman was making the first start of his big league career, and pitched well. The 23-year old kept the game at 1-1 into the top of the 7th before the Phillies got to him for a crooked number.
Tommy Joseph, Altherr, and Paredes began that 7th with consecutive singles to load the bases. Mets’ skipper Terry Collins lifted Gsellman in favor of reliever Hansel Robles, who promptly yielded a two-run double to new Phils catcher A.J. Ellis.
After an intentional walk to Freddy Galvis in hopes of setting up a double play, Robles hit pinch-hitter Peter Bourjos with a pitch, forcing in Paredes with the run that made it a 4-1 game.
Cesar Hernandez then followed with a sac fly to score Ellis and provide the final 5-1 margin.
The Phillies bullpen was stellar on the day, with David Hernandez, Edubray Ramos, Hector Neris, and Jeanmar Gomez each tossing a scoreless frame. Hernandez (3-3) got credit for the Win in this one.
The Phils now return home to Citizens Bank Park where they will host divisional rivals Washington and Atlanta in the coming week.