Phillies Edge Mets on Utley’s 11 Inning Homer
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Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels had his 2nd sub-par performance in 3 outings. But a gritty performance by the bullpen, a 3 run rally in the seventh inning which KO’ed Mets starter Mike Pelfrey and 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s 3rd homer in 2 games were key as the Phillies edged the Mets on Utley’s 11 inning homer by a 5-4 tally on Wednesday.
With the win, the Phillies’ NL East 1st place lead over the Mets bumped-up again to 3 games.
Utley’s 2nd pitch 11th inning game-winner off of losing pitcher reliever Bobby Parnell capped a 3 for 5 game which boosted his BA to .303 and followed by minutes a daring, diving catch by rightfielder Jayson Werth of 3rd baseman David Wright’s sinking liner in the right-center gap with 2 outs and a runner on in the 10th inning. With the catch, the Phils headed to the dugout rather than having to face 1st baseman Fernando Tatis with 2 runners on, possibly at the corners.
AP baseball writer Mike Fitzpatrick had these observations in his recap for Yahoo sports:
“If he hadn’t of caught it, the guy would have scored,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Wright, who had three hits and two stolen bases, yanked off his helmet in frustration at first base after Werth’s diving catch.
Hamels, coming off of a five-hit complete game shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers in his previous start, was rung-up for 4 runs in five innings while giving up 11 hits, matching a career high. He fought off jams throughout his five innings while being pounded for 1 run in the third and 3 more in the fourth while throwing 100 pitches and walking 2 while striking out 1. Fortunately, the ball stayed in Citi Park for him and the 6 Phillies relievers.
After the Mets scored their 1st run in the third on a fielder’s choice, Pelfrey got centerfielder Shane Victorino to ground out to open the fourth inning. Utley followed by pounding Pelfrey’s 2 ball pitch out to rightfield to tie the score at 1-1. Pelfrey had retired the previous 7 Phillies hitters and 10 of the first 11 hitters he faced with only Utley reaching safely on a first inning single to centerfield.
The Mets, however quickly mounted a 4-1 lead on Hamels with a 3 run fourth inning as Pelfrey tried mightily to help his own cause. He had 2 hits in 3 at bats for the game with an RBI single to rightfield driving in the 1st of the 3 Met fourth inning runs (in addition to scoring a third inning run which following his double). 2nd baseman Luis Castillo and shortstop Alex Cora also singled in runs before Hamels finally got out of the inning as centerfielder Carlos Beltran grounded into a doubleplay.
Lefthanded reliever Jack Taschner replaced Hamels to start the sixth inning, only 1 of 2 innings that a Phils pitcher went clean on the Mets.
Meanwhile, the Phillies rallied for 3 seventh inning runs against Pelfrey and the New York bullpen to tie the game at 4-all. The Phils loaded the bases with none out on 3 straight singles with Werth’s to centerfield loading the the bases and sending Pelfrey to the showers. 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz knotched an RBI single to leftfield for the Phils 2nd run followed by the 3rd run scoring on a Mets fielding error on a fielders’ choice grounder. The tying run scored on a fielder’s choice. With runners at the corners and 2 out, Phils could have had more. But Victorino grounded to shortstop to end the inning.
The Mets had the Phillies bullpen scuffling throughout the late innings although they were gritty enough not to break, particularly Chan Ho Park who threw 2 shutout innings, pitched out of a 2 on, 2 out jam in the ninth and gave up a hit in the tenth while recording his 2nd win of the season when Utley solo homered in the eleventh.
Ryan Madson, subbing for injured closer Brad Lidge, put the Mets down in order on 3 groundouts to end the game.
For all of the scores of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In Thursday’s final, the Phils hope to nail down a series win as 46 year old veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by Tim Redding.
For all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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