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Shane Victorino led off the bottom of the 13th inning with a triple and Chris Coste drove him home early Wednesday morning as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame a 7-0 deficit to beat the New York Mets and take over first place in the N.L. East.
The Mets jumped on starter Jamie Moyer early when Jose Reyes led off with a triple in the gap and Damion Easley singled him home. The Mets then loaded the bases for Fernando Tatis, who made it 2-0 with a single to center.
Easley followed up in the second inning with a homer to left center, and then Tatis fouled off a seemingly endless barrage of pitches from Moyer before launching a fastball over the left field fence for a 3-run home run to make it 6-0.
But the Phillies creeped back, beginning in the fourth when they got their first run on a groundout. Rollins and Ryan Howard both hit two-run homers in the fifth to make it 7-5.
The Mets loaded the bases in the sixth but couldn’t capitalize, letting the Phils complete their comback with a run on three singles in the eighth and a pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth.
Reliever Aaron Heilman pitched out of jams in the 10th and 11th innings, and then retired the side in the 12th, finishing with a 3-2 slider that froze Ryan Howard.
But after giving up a leadoff triple to Victorino and intentionally walking the bases loaded, Scott Schowenweis could get just one out – a strikeout of the Phils relief pitcher – before letting Coste hit the ball into centerfield for a walk-off win.
Martinez again lost his no-hitter on the first batter, giving up a double down the right field line to Jimmy Rollins. That marked the fourth time this month that the leadoff batter has tagged Martinez (the other three were home runs) and the 911th time in the Mets’ 46+ year history that a potential Mets no-hitter was broken up by a leadoff hit. (See our No-hitters killed by first at bat page for more details on leadoff hits.) Our NoNoHitters.com count is now at 7,453.
Easley nearly became the 10th Met to hit for the cycle with an RBI single in the first, a solo homer in the second, a triple in the fourth and a bunt single in the sixth. He was due to lead off the 14th inning if the Mets could have made it that far.
