Flushing, NY – Five different Mets knocked in a run and New York rattled Cole Hamels during a three-run first inning before holding on late to a 5-4 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field.
Daniel Murphy and Marlon Byrd each had two hits and Juan Lagares went 3-for-5, all driving in a run apiece to help the Mets end the Phillies' seven-game run over the club in Queens.
David Wright and Anthony Recker each recorded an RBI as well, and the Mets survived in the ninth after Bobby Parnell served up a two-run homer to Chase Utley to secure a split of the first two tilts in this three-game set.
Zack Wheeler struggled with his command and exited with the bases loaded after working 4 2/3 innings, but Gonzalez Germen (1-1) put out the fire by recording the final out of the fifth.
Philadelphia put up 13 runs to capture the series opener on Friday, but the offense stalled in Saturday's middle test, going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Hamels (4-12) has never lost so many games in a season over the course of his career. He was lifted after five innings, charged with four runs on seven hits in the setback.
"The Mets have always been tough on him here," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Hamels. "They grind out their at-bats on him and make him pitch."
Jimmy Rollins yanked Wheeler's third pitch of the game just clear of the right-field wall to open up the early advantage for the Phillies, but Hamels failed to maintain it while struggling through a 34-pitch first inning.
Murphy roped a one-out double against the lefty and swiped third as Wright worked a walk. Byrd then lined the first pitch he saw into left to even the score at 1-1.
The Mets plated two more after Hamels walked another in Josh Satin. Lagares drove in Wright with a looper over the head of Utley at second and Recker beat out a double-play ball to make it 3-1 New York.
The Phillies had an excellent opportunity against Wheeler in the fifth after their first three batters of the frame reached base, however they only came away with a sacrifice fly from Utley.
Wheeler departed at 106 pitches after reloading the bases on a two-out walk to Darin Ruf, however Germen took over and fanned Delmon Young on five pitches to avoid further trouble.
"There's been a few times now where I've had to come out of the game early because I'm throwing 20 pitches an inning," Wheeler said. "That's not going to work. That's part of my game that I'm going to have to fix pretty fast."
New York got the run back in home portion of the fifth, with Eric Young Jr. scoring on a sharp line-drive single from Wright, then tacked on another in the seventh on Murphy's RBI base hit to go ahead 5-2.
Parnell recorded the first two outs of the ninth easily before an error on Satin allowed the frame to continue. Utley then crushed a 2-2 offering well into the right-field seats to make it 5-4.
Domonic Brown reached with a double to put the tying run in scoring position, but Parnell got Ruf to line out hard to second to end the game.
Game Notes
Rollins went 2-for-5 and pushed his hitting streak against New York to 16 games. His homer was his first in 162 at-bats ... The Phils were attempting to match their longest winning streak in Flushing, last set from May 1-Sept. 11, 1980 ... Murphy extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
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