|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chase Utley hit a solo homer off Bobby Parnell in the top of the 11th – his second of the night – to give the Phillies a 5-4 victory at Citi Field.
Mets starter Mike Pelfrey lost his no-hitter in the first when Utley singled to advance our count to 7,539 games, but Pelfrey more than made up for it with his bat.
After Utley gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the top of the third with a solo homer to right, Pelfrey scored the tying run after leading off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center. Luis Castillo advanced Pelfrey to third on an infield single, and Alex Cora sent him home on a fielder’s choice.
New York rallied for three more runs in the fourth with a rally that began with a David Wright single. After Fernando Tatis grounded out, Ryan Church walked and Omir Santos lined a single to left to load the bases.
The Mets then took a 4-1 lead on three consecutive RBI singles, as Pelfrey blooped one just inside the right-field line, Luis Castillo hit a little flair to short right and Alex Cora shot another ball up the middle. Carlos Beltran ended the inning by hitting into a 5-4-3 double play, but replays clearly showed that Beltran was safe, so Pelfrey should have been the Mets’ fifth run.
Pelfrey pitched six strong innings of three-hit ball before getting into trouble in the seventh by giving up three straight singles, the last being a long fly ball to center that bounced off the heal of Beltran’s glove.
Sean Green came in and gave up a single to Pedro Feliz that made it 4-2, and then Wright mishandled an in-between hop to make it 4-3. Green struck out pinch-hitter Paul Bako, but Jayson Werth was able to score when Jimmy Rollins hit into a fielder’s choice. That closed the books on Pelfrey, who was charged with four runs (two of them earned) on six hits and two walks.
Pedro Feliciano (1 in.) and Francisco Rodriguez (2 in.) kept the game even through the tenth, and the Mets had a chance to win it in the bottom half of the inning.
After Fernando Martinez reached base on a pinch-hit two-out single, David Wright drove a ball into the right-center gap that was robbed by a diving Jayson Werth. It was a risky play as it clearly would have scored the winning run if it hit grass, but Werth knew he could get it … and did.
Utley then stepped up to the plate in the top of the 11th and gave the Phillies the last run they’d need with a solo homer just over the right-field fence near the foul pole.
