The Philadelphia Phillies (7-9) avoided a sweep tonight by defeating the New York Mets (7-7) this evening by the final of 5-4 in 11 innings. For a full boxscore recap follow the link below…

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_04_20_nynmlb_phimlb_1#game=2016_04_20_nynmlb_phimlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup

Game Notes:

• Lucas Duda was 3-5 tonight with with a solo HR.
• Yoenis Cespedes was 2-6  with a solo HR.
• Neil Walker was 4-5 with a run scored.
• Asdrubal Cabrera was 1-5 with an RBI double, which originally was ruled a home run in the second inning before overturned upon umpire review.
• David Wright had a rough night at the plate going 0-6 with 4 strikeouts, snapping a streak of 21 straight games reaching base dating to Sept. 20, 2015.
• Michael Conforto was 0-5 with 3 strikeouts.
• Bartolo Colon got the no-decision pitching 6 innings while allowing 3 runs, on 4 hits, with only 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
• Hansel Robles was charged with the loss in the bottom of the 11th, allowing a game-winning base hit to Phillies outfielder Peter Bourjos.

The Mets home run party continued tonight when Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda slugged back-to-back home runs in the top of the fifth inning to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. The Mets hit back-to-back home runs every game this series with Lucas Duda being involved in all three occurrences. Duda is rapidly emerging as another Phillies killer on this Mets ball club next to David Wright. An interesting statistic I heard on tonight’s broadcast was that since Aug. 24, 2015, the Mets and Phillies have hit the same number of homers at Citizens Bank Park which is twenty-nine apiece. The Mets have only played ten games at the ballpark during that span. The Phillies have played thirty-three. Aside from the homers, the Mets however failed to capitalize on other opportunities as they were 2-14 with runners in scoring position and struck out a whopping 17 times tonight as a team. I hope this team doesn’t solely rely on the long ball and become an all or nothing team, as they have guys that are capable of hitting the ball in play and making something happen. It’s just a matter of the hitters driving those guys who are on base home without solely depending on the long ball. 

Phillies outfielder Peter Bourjos ended up being a thorn in the Mets side tonight both tying the game and winning the game on separate base hits. The game-winner he hit in the bottom of the 11th, was a ground ball hit deep enough to third base for him to beat the throw to first base. I immediately knew once the ball was hit deep enough, he had the speed to beat the throw that Wright would eventually make, and that is exactly what happened. It was a tough ending tonight but it doesn’t go without saying the Mets did have their opportunities, and simply didn’t capatalize enough. All in all they took the series from the Phillies with a historic power surge and they will look to continue that momentum going into Atlanta this weekend. They have had a great road trip thus far going 4-2 and just being a hair short of possibly being 6-0. The Mets will also be excited to welcome back one of their own in Jacob deGrom, as he makes his return to the mound Sunday afternoon. Despite the loss all is still looking up in Mets world!

• The Mets will have the day off tomorrow but return to action on Friday night to begin a 3-game weekend set with Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 pm et and can be seen on SNY.

• The Dark Knight Matt Harvey (0-3, 5.71 ERA) will look to right the ship as he takes the mound Friday evening for the Mets, while he opposes Braves right-hander Bud Norris (1-2, 6.23 ERA).