Bartolo Colon pitched a great game, and the Mets scored early and often against the Phillies.
In the first of three games against the cellar-dwelling Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets won easily. A combination of very good starting pitching—this time from Bartolo Colon—and a hit-happy lineup made for a clean win for the Mets.
In seven-and-two-thirds innings, Colon allowed ten hits but just one run. He struck out six and walked one in the start, which saw him throw 121 pitches. While he got into a couple of slightly tough spots, he got through seven innings without allowing a run before giving up one in the eighth.
A.J. Burnett, who started for the Phillies, did not fare nearly as well. In the bottom of the first, Burnett walked leadoff man Curtis Granderson and served up a double to Daniel Murphy. After a David Wright ground out moved Murphy to third, Lucas Duda singled to score the Mets’ second run. And after a Chris Young fly out, Travis d’Arnaud hit the first of his two doubles on the night. With d’Arnaud on second and Duda on third, Juan Lagares doubled down the right field line to score both. The Mets were up 4-0.
Things were mostly quiet from there through the end of the fourth inning, but the Mets tacked on three more runs in the fifth on a Travis d’Arnaud home run. That made it 7-0 Mets, a lead far greater than what Colon required.
Colon gave up a run with two outs in the eighth, and Terry Collins brought in Josh Edgin, who retired the only batter he faced to end the inning. Dana Eveland took over for the ninth and notched an out before giving up a pair of singles, the second of which hit him in his pitching elbow. Luckily, x-rays on his elbow were reportedly fine after the game.
With Eveland’s injury, the Mets brought in Vic Black, who set down two of the three hitters he faced, wrapping up the game with a bases-loaded strikeout of Ryan Howard.
SB Nation GameThreads
* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* The Good Phight GameThread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Bartolo Colon, +16.0% WPA, Daniel Murphy, +13.5% WPA, Juan Lagares, +13.0% WPA
Big losers: none
Teh aw3s0mest play: Daniel Murphy’s run-scoring double in the first, +13.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play:Marlon Byrd’s single in the fourth, -1.8% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +16.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: +33.7% WPA
GWRBI!: Lucas Duda