Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Mets walk off with win in 10th
DeGrom, Nimmo sink Phils in pitcher’s duel
NEW YORK » Pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning and the New York Mets got another dominant outing from All-Star Jacob deGrom in a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.
Amed Rosario, who had two of New York’s four hits, began the winning rally with a two-out double off Mark Leiter Jr. (0-1) — the first hit for the Mets since the fourth inning. Jose Reyes walked and Nimmo drove Leiter’s next pitch well over the wall in right-center for his first career walk-off RBIs.
It was New York’s third gameending homer in the last six days. Jose Bautista beat Tampa Bay with a grand slam last Friday, and Wilmer Flores connected Monday in the series opener against the Phillies to help the Mets earn a four-game split.
Philadelphia dropped back into a first-place tie with Atlanta in the NL East.
In his final scheduled start before heading to the All-Star Game next Tuesday in Washington, deGrom scattered five hits and matched his longest outing of the season. He struck out seven and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.68.
Still, the right-hander has only five wins on the season. He’s allowed just one earned run over his last 16 innings but has consistently been hurt by a lack of run support from an anemic New York offense all year.
This time, at least, the Mets didn’t let deGrom’s gem go to waste.
New York won for just the fifth time in its past 24 home games but has gone 15 consecutive series without winning one since sweeping a three-game set against Arizona from May 18-20.
Robert Gsellman (6-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the victory.
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez returned from the disabled list and allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings. The right-hander missed only one start after being hit just below the right elbow by a line drive on June 30.
Among the NL leaders in strikeouts, Velasquez fanned just three.
Before his big home run, Nimmo was in a 6-for-46 slump with 20 strikeouts during that stretch. Beaming as he rounded the bases, he was pelted in the face with a bucket of bubble gum by excited teammates as they waited to swarm him at home plate.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: RHP Luis Garcia (right wrist strain) will pitch for Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday and Sunday and then will be re-evaluated. . OF Rhys Hoskins went through concussion protocol after crashing into the left-field wall Tuesday, but was cleared and was in the starting lineup. He went 0 for 3 with a walk.
MAJIC MAN
Longtime New York Mets radio broadcast engineer Chris Majkowski threw out the ceremonial first pitch. A 25-year veteran, “Maj” has not missed a game since Aug. 8, 1993 — a string of 4,011 consecutive games.
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Nick Pivetta (57, 4.62 ERA) opposes RHP Kevin Gausman (4-6, 4.11) when Philadelphia visits Baltimore on Thursday night to make up a May 15 postponement. Pivetta has struggled in his last two starts, allowing eight earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.