Philadelphia, PA – Matt Harvey dazzled with nine strikeouts and the New York Mets roughed up Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Much like his first start, Harvey (2-0) sliced through the opposition's batting order and yielded just one run on three hits over seven innings of work. He became just the second Mets pitcher to produce those statistics in consecutive starts to begin a season.
The only other to accomplish the feat, a guy named Nolan Ryan.
John Buck continued his torrid start, contributing a three-run homer. Ruben Tejada drove in a pair, while David Wright and Lucas Duda had an RBI apiece in New York's third straight win.
Halladay (0-2) was ineffective for the second straight start, as he surrendered seven runs on six hits over four-plus frames in a loss that ended his eight-game winning streak against New York.
"It's important to get ahead and attack and I have a lot of 2-0 counts, a lot of high pitch counts," said Halladay. "You know, I thought I made some good pitches, but they were getting hit."
Ryan Howard had a sacrifice fly and Jimmy Rollins drove in a run for the Phillies, who are off to a 2-5 start.
Halladay's struggles were apparent in the second inning, plunking Duda after giving up a double to Marlon Byrd. Buck then came to plate and crushed an opposite field homer well into the right field seats for a 3-0 Mets lead.
"Any runs you can get off of Roy (Halladay) are big," said Buck. "They obviously have a pretty dangerous lineup that can put up runs at any time. So you want to get as many as you can off him."
Duda came to bat again in the following frame and delivered an RBI single for a four-run New York edge. Howard got the Phillies on the board with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Mets answered with three runs in the fifth.
Daniel Murphy's leadoff double started the inning and he came around to score on a single from Wright. Halladay was chased after giving up a hit to Ike Davis, and has failed to throw five innings in either of his first two starts.
Chad Durbin replaced him and recorded two outs, but then gave up a bases- loaded single to Tejada, who plated two runs with his line drive to center and New York had a 7-1 lead.
Harvey struck out the side in the bottom half of the fifth and kept the Phillies hitless over his last three innings of work. Erik Kratz doubled off Mets reliever Josh Edgin in the eighth and Rollins got him home soon after on a groundout.
Game Notes
For the first time in his 16-year career, Halladay's had consecutive games with four or fewer innings pitched and five or more earned runs allowed ... New York defeated Halladay for the first time since 2006 ... Murphy went 2- for-4 with two doubles.
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