Walker's 3-run homer helps Mets top Phillies
PHILADELPHIA -- Neil Walker hit a three-run homer and Juan Lagares added a solo shot as the New York Mets opened the second half of their season with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
Asdrubel Cabrera went 3-for-5 and Bartolo Colon (8-4) picked up his fifth victory in his last six decisions, helping the Mets snap a three-game losing streak.
Jeurys Familia, the last of five New York pitchers, worked a perfect ninth to post his 32nd save. Familia, who leads the major leagues in that category, has converted his last 48 save opportunities.
The Phillies lost for only the fourth time in their last 14 games.
Colon worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed three unearned runs and four hits while striking out four and walking two.
Philadelphia starter Jeremy Hellickson (6-7) went six innings and allowed four runs and seven hits while striking out five. He did not walk a batter.
Lagares hit Hellickson's first pitch of the third inning, a fastball, into the seats in center field, his third homer of the season.
Colon retired the first 13 hitters he faced, but Cameron Rupp grounded a single through the middle with one out in the fifth. Cody Asche then walked, but Colon struck out Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez to wiggle out of the jam.
Cabrera and Curtis Granderson opened the sixth with singles, and Walker then drove Hellickson's 3-2 fastball into the seats in left, making it 4-0. It was Walker's 16th homer of the season and his fourth in four games at Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia answered with three unearned runs off Colon in the bottom of the sixth. Odubel Herrera reached on an error with one out and scored on Peter Bourjos' triple. Bourjos then came home on a groundout by Maikel Franco, and with two outs, Cody Asche's RBI single delivered Tommy Joseph, slicing the Mets' lead to 4-3.
The Mets' Juan Lagares led off the seventh by drawing a walk from reliever Andrew Bailey. Lagares stole second and went to third on a flyout by Alejandro DeAza. Jose Reyes, batting against a drawn-in infield, then bounced a ball over the mound that was fielded on the move by Galvis, the Phillies' shortstop.
He threw high to Rupp, the Philadelphia catcher, and Lagares slid under the tag to give New York a 5-3 cushion.
NOTES: Mets OF Yoenis Cespedes, who missed the last two games before the All-Star break with a strained right quadriceps, did not start. ... Philadelphia C Cameron Rupp began the night with the highest slugging percentage among major league catchers since June 1 (.632). It is nonetheless unclear where he fits in the club's long-range picture because the Phillies are high on some receivers in their minor-league chain, notably Jorge Alfaro, who is currently at Double-A Reading. Rupp is unbothered by all the talk. "It's just noise," he said before the game. "I look at it as, it doesn't matter how long I've been in the big leagues or how long my contract, whatever it is; somebody's trying to take my spot. Whether I've established myself or not, I've still got to go out and play, and I've got to have results.