PHILADELPHIA — The Mets trudged through their first day after the All-Star break in much the same way that they soldiered on in the days leading up to it.
Manager Terry Collins took stock of which players were healthy, which were not, then watched the Mets beat the Phillies, 5-3, Friday night despite fielding a lineup compromised by injuries.
Even after a seven-day hiatus, slugger Yoenis Cespedes still felt pain in his strained right quad, forcing Collins to leave him out of the starting lineup. Nevertheless, the Mets (48-41) got a boost from Neil Walker and Juan Lagares.
Walker bashed a three-run homer in the sixth off Phillies righthander Jeremy Helickson to give the Mets a 4-0 cushion. Lagares hammered a solo homer in the third and helped manufacture a crucial run in the seventh.
It was enough to support 43-year-old Bartolo Colon. Just as he had done throughout the season’s first half, the veteran kept the Mets in the game, allowing three runs (though none earned) in 5 2/3 innings.
Jeurys Familia made quick work of the Phillies in the ninth. Well rested after he was held out of the All-Star Game, Familia nailed down his 32nd straight save to start the season, capping a stellar night for the bullpen.
Hansel Robles, Jerry Blevins, Addison Reed and Familia combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
Lagares gave the Mets a 1-0 lead with his homer of the season. But the big blow came from Walker, who lined a 3-and-2 pitch the other way for his 16th homer.
With that timely swing, Walker equaled his season total from last year, a power spike somewhat similar to that of the man he replaced at second base, Daniel Murphy.
Has Walker been Murphy, a National League MVP candidate with the rival Nationals? Hardly. But general manager Sandy Alderson won’t be taking to the airwaves anytime too soon to share second thoughts on making the deal that brought Jonathon Niese to Pittsburgh, as Pirates counterpart Neal Huntington did on Friday.
Meanwhile, Colon (8-4) retired the first 13 batters he faced, needing only 15 pitches to cruise through his first two innings. The Phillies’ first baserunner came with one out in the fifth, when Cameron Rupp singled up the middle.
But it wasn’t until the sixth that Colon looked unsteady, and even then, it was a poor throw by typically steady first baseman James Loney that set things in motion.
After making a nice play to field Odubal Cabrera’s grounder, Loney’s feed to Colon at the bag sailed high and out of the pitcher’s reach.
Peter Bourjos followed with a run-scoring triple, then scored on Maikel Franco’s groundout. Two batters later, Cody Asche hit a run-scoring single into shallow leftfield, scoring Tommy Joseph and cutting the Mets’ lead to one run.
With that, Colon was chased from the game, though reliever Hansel Robles ended the threat by getting Freddy Galvis to hit an inning-ending pop-up.
Lagares delivered an insurance run, though he did it in a fashion that has been nearly foreign to the grip-it-and-rip-it Mets. He produced the tally with his legs.
Lagares worked a leadoff walk, then swiped second base. Alejandro De Aza lifted a fly ball to the warning track in right, deep enough to advance Lagares to third base.
When Jose Reyes hit a grounder to the Phillies shortstop Galvis, Lagares alertly ran on contact. He scored, even though Galvis was playing in and uncorked a throw that was good enough to make the play close.
- Newsday