BRUCE IS LOOSE
Slugger's 2 HRs lead mets to wild victory over Phillies
PHILADELPHIA — As most of this Mets lineup sleepwalks through the night, Jay Bruce might be developing a sore back from having to carry his teammates. Last season’s late-summer flop is this spring’s breath of fresh air for the Mets, who will take hits wherever they can get them. “Tonight it just happened to be me,” Bruce said Monday after smashing two homers, including a go-ahead blast in the eighth to lead a 4-3 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “I want to be a good player. I want to help this team win.” Bruce’s mammoth two-run homer against lefty reliever Joely Rodriguez in the eighth was the knockout punch on a night the Mets (4-3) survived on only four hits to win their second straight. Bruce already has four homers, including three in the Mets’ last two games, as Jose Reyes, Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker, among others, continue to search for their stroke. “I have got the FBI looking for the real Jose Reyes right now,” manager Terry Collins said after his third baseman went hitless in four at-bats — he is 1for-27 (.037) this season. But the real Bruce might have been discovered already, not the imposter who arrived from the Reds at the trade deadline last year and was routinely booed after frustrating the Citi Field faithful. “You’re not an All-Star as much as he is unless [production] is in there somewhere,” Collins said. “I’m glad it’s right now because we’re not swinging the bats as a cumulative team, and I’m glad he’s doing what he’s doing because we need him when he steps up.”
The go-ahead rally started after Phillies reliever Edubray Ramos fired a 96-mph missile behind Asdrubal Cabrera’s head leading off the eighth. The pitch apparently was payback for Cabrera’s bat heave on a walk-off homer against the righty last September.
Cabrera glared toward Ramos, who received a warning from plate umpire Allan Porter — Phillies manager Pete Mackanin protested and was ejected — before drawing a walk.
“I didn’t even know that was the same guy I hit a walk-off against last year,” Cabrera said, adding that if Ramos had a problem with him, he should have aimed lower. “I said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ That was my reaction.”
Rodriguez then entered and served up a meatball to Bruce, who has half of the Mets’ eight homers through seven games.
Addison Reed allowed a solo homer to Brock Stassi in the ninth, but finished the job for his second save in as many chances. Hansel Robles had escaped trouble in the eighth by getting Cameron Rupp to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Mets scratched for a run against Jerad Eickhoff in the seventh to tie it 2-2. In the middle of the rally was Bruce, who had homered for the Mets’ first run. Bruce walked leading off the seventh and scored the tying run on Walker’s sacrifice fly.
Jacob deGrom survived a rocky beginning to pitch six solid innings in which he allowed two runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The righty got rolling in the middle innings and retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.
Josh Smoker recorded two quick outs in the seventh, but after Cesar Hernandez singled and Howie Kendrick walked, Collins summoned his top lefty relief option, Jerry Blevins, to face Odubel Herrera. Blevins bounced his first pitch, but Travis d’Arnaud scooped it and fired to second, where Hernandez had strayed from the bag. Hernandez was safe, but Kendrick was caught off first and tagged out to end the inning.
Bruce’s solo homer pulled the Mets within 2-1 in the fourth. Bruce, inserted into the cleanup spot for the second straight game, hammered Eickhoff ’s hanging curveball into the right-field seats.
A combination of bad luck and control problems sunk deGrom into a 2-0 hole in the first. After Herrera blooped a single and Maikel Franco followed with a soft liner on which Granderson was late in reacting, the Phillies pounced. First, Michael Saunders delivered a solid RBI single before Rupp walked with the bases loaded.
“Early on, I didn’t really know where anything was going,” deGrom said. “It’s satisfying to keep the team in the game and get the win.”