Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Phillies’ bullpen comes through in win over
The Phillies got a strong overall pitching performance from starter Jeremy Hellickson and the bullpen Sunday in a seriesclinching win over the Mets.
NEW YORK >> The Phillies had lost one game, then two, then three, then four. Then, they lost some of the patience of their manager.
Something, Pete Mackanin was growling earlier in the weekend, was going to change. Something did. Just after Mackanin literally promised to find improvement in his bullpen, and “the sooner the better,” the Phillies would uncork two days of splendid relief pitching. That included enough of it Sunday from James Russell, Hector Neris and closer-of-the-hour Jeanmar Gomez to preserve a 5-2 victory over the New York Mets.
Odubel Herrera hit a tworun home run and Jeremy Hellickson provided his second consecutive strong start as the Phillies won two of three in a Citi Field series. They will return to Citizens Bank Park for their home opener Monday afternoon at 3:05, facing the San Diego Padres. Aaron Nola will oppose Andrew Cashner.
Hellickson, the 2011 American League Rookie of the Year acquired from Arizona in an offseason trade for a minor-league pitcher, worked 5.2 innings, allowing three hits, striking out five and walking one. After two starts with the Phils, his ERA is at 1.54.
After a one-out Russell effort, Neris provided two scoreless innings and Gomez worked the ninth for his second save in as many days, making Hellickson 1-0 and allowing the Phils to bring a two-game winning streak into that home opener.
“Once again, I was thinking late in the game, even when it was close, that it is so much different than last year,” Mackanin said. “We were in the game. We had a chance to win and we did. We won the game. And it’s a nice feeling to have compared to last year.”
Hellickson kept the Mets hitless until Yoenis Cespedes muscled a fourth-inning single into shallow right. And with Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez and Jerad Eickhoff, the right-hander gave the Phillies another useful start from a relatively young rotation.
“It just feels good to throw well this early,” the 29-year-old Hellickson said. “I haven’t had a lot of success in the last few Aprils. So to get off to a pretty good start means a lot. And I think this series was huge.”
Peter Bourjos reached on a third-inning infield hit, then hustled to third on Hellickson’s single. Freddy Galvis delivered him with a sacrifice fly to left, good for a 1-0 Phillies lead.
The Phils made it 3-0 in the sixth when Herrera hit his first home run of the season deep to right-center, scoring Cesar Hernandez, who’d singled.
“We feel fine,” Herrera said. “We have a pretty good offense. We feel that we can beat anybody. So we’re not down for losing a few games. We just want to win and we know we can win.”
Matt Harvey (0-2) lasted six innings for New York, striking out three and allowing three earned runs on six hits.
The Mets drew within 3-2 in the sixth when Cespedes capped an 11-pitch atbat with his first home run of the year into the left-field seats. That scored David Wright, who had hit a double. To that point, the Phillies had kept the Mets on a 15-inning scoreless streak that began Friday and included their 1-0 Saturday victory.
Cespedes’ homer chased Hellickson, who was replaced by Russell. Russell made Lucas Duda fly out to right, preserving the onerun lead.
Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly gave the Phils a 4-2 advantage in the eighth. Freddy Galvis began the inning with a single to right and reached third when Herrera walked and Maikel Franco singled. Howard’s one-out fly to right-center was good for his fourth RBI of the season.
After allowing no hits and striking out three, Hector Neris was lifted in the ninth for pinch-hitter Andres Blanco. Blanco’s double deep to center scored Peter Bourjos, who had walked, inflating the Phils’ lead to 5-2.
Wright greeted Gomez with a flailing leadoff single inside the right-field line, but Gomez survived.
“If you’re in the game, you have a chance,” Mackanin said. “To face the pitching staff that the Mets have and win two of three games, we’re thrilled about it. But as I’ve said when their guys pitch well and our guys pitch well, it boils down to the last three innings.”
For two games, the Phillies were able to survive that late threat … and any new threats from their manager.