Mets beat Phillies behind three home runs

NEW YORK - Six consecutive balls to begin Justin De Fratus' outing on Monday prompted a visit to the mound by Bob McClure. The Phillies' pitching coach reminded the 27-year-old reliever that he was one pitch away from inducing a ground-ball double play.

Three pitches later, De Fratus saw the fastball he aimed "down and away" smacked over Citi Field's left-field fence. Wilmer Flores' three-run home run in the sixth broke open the Memorial Day matinee, a 6-3 win by the New York Mets.

"It was tough to find the strike zone today," De Fratus said. "It was just a freak day."

The Phillies' fifth loss in seven days ensured them of no better than a .500 road trip. They posted six consecutive wins against non-divisional opponents last week, but they have lost three of four to the first-place Washington Nationals and second-place Mets.

Behind three home runs, the Mets snapped a three-game losing streak. Their win was their sixth against the Phillies in seven meetings this year. The crafty Bartolo Colon, who turned 42 on Sunday, earned his seventh win - tied for the most in the majors - with six solid innings.

The Phillies' bullpen was tasked with recording 10 outs because of another short hook for starter Severino Gonzalez. The 22-year-old righthander threw only 69 pitches over 41/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits, two of which left the park.

Gonzalez, by no means a strikeout pitcher, punched out eight batters, three more than he had in any of his eight previous starts between triple A and the major leagues. Each of his first seven outs Monday were strikeouts. In his previous start Wednesday at Coors Field, he did not strike out a single batter.

Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer each launched home runs off Gonzalez, whose fastball hovers around only 90 m.p.h. Cuddyer's fourth-inning shot landed in the second deck in left-center field.

Three Phillies runs in the middle innings helped Gonzalez leave with a no-decision. After consecutive two-out hits from Ben Revere and Freddy Galvis (double), Chase Utley pulled a Colon fastball through the hole on the right side of the infield for a two-run single in the third. Ryan Howard's fifth-inning sacrifice to deep center field tied the score at 3. The first baseman just missed a grand slam.

"I thought I had it," Howard said.

Colon singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, his second hit of the season, much to the pleasure of the crowd. The home fans erupted when the heavyset veteran tagged up from second base on a Juan Lagares fly ball. With runners on the corners and one out, Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg tabbed lefthander Elvis Araujo, who induced an inning-ending, double-play grounder from Duda.

De Fratus, pitching for the third consecutive day, entered an inning later with a runner on first base. He had not walked a batter over 10 May innings after issuing nine free passes in April. That streak ended with four consecutive balls to Cuddyer. He said his arm "wasn't catching up like it usually does." His inability to locate his slider made the 3-1 pitch to Flores predictable for the Mets shortstop.

"Last year, he was really good about throwing a first-pitch slider for a strike and then going from there, which kept the hitters guessing," Sandberg said of De Fratus, whose ERA rose from 3.27 to 4.30 over just the last two afternoons.

"That's what he's working on - trusting his stuff and attacking the hitters in the zone and making them earn what they get. The base on balls ahead of the home run, and the home run [after falling] behind in the count, those are a couple of the issues he has to work on."

StartText

8

Strikeouts by Severino Gonzalez in 41/3 innings.

3

Homers allowed by Phillies pitchers.

2

Hits by Chase Utley, whose average is up

to .183.

EndText

@jakemkaplan