Phillies fall to Mets, 3-2

Aaron Harang turned and watched as the ball rocketed overhead. The Phillies pitcher saw it clear the left-field wall in the seventh inning of a 3-2 loss to the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night. Harang bent his knees and hollered. It was quite the way to spoil a 37th birthday.

Harang had put together a strong performance before yielding the two-run homer to Juan Lagares, who had been hitless in his previous 16 at-bats. Manager Ryne Sandberg said it was a high fastball that Harang would like to have back.

Harang had intended to throw a cutter low and away. He missed his spot. It was one of his few mistakes, but it hurt more than any other.

"He was coming up and hunting a fastball. Trying to do anything he could to change that game," Harang said. ". . . You could tell by the swing he took that he was looking fastball. He was looking for something hard and straight."

Harang pitched seven innings for the second time this season. It was the third time he threw more than 100 pitches. The righthander allowed eight hits and three runs, two of which were earned. He struck out two and walked one.

The Phillies loaded the bases in the eighth but came up empty. Freddy Galvis led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a groundout. Grady Sizemore and Cesar Hernandez followed with consecutive walks on a combined nine pitches. The rally's fuse was quickly blown out when Carlos Ruiz grounded into an inning-ending double play. Galvis, who had crossed home, pleaded with Sandberg to challenge. Replays showed Ruiz was out by a half-step.

"I didn't get it done," Ruiz said. "I'll come back tomorrow and win some games. One good thing is that we battled. That's the one thing that we have to continue to do."

Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Cody Asche were all left out of Sandberg's lineup. Asche was used as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. He flied out to left field. Sandberg said he considered using Utley and Howard in the eighth, but he saved them for the ninth. Utley slapped a pinch-hit single to snap an 0-for-19 slump. Howard followed and flied out to deep center.

"Good to see Chase have a real good at-bat there," Sandberg said. "A quality at-bat. Maybe that's something that will really get him started."

Hernandez, who replaced Utley in the lineup, booted a routine grounder that would have ended the fifth inning. Instead, a run scored. The Phillies struck back an inning later with a pair of their own unearned runs.

Ben Revere reached on an error to start; second baseman Dilson Herrera's throw was wide. Revere then stole second and moved to third on a single to center by Darin Ruf, who started for Howard. Jeff Francoeur scored Revere with a sacrifice fly. Ruf scored on a double by Ruiz.

The Phillies had a one-run lead. They were six outs away from handing the ball to Jonathan Papelbon, who remains tied with Jose Mesa for the franchise's career saves record. Harang found Ruf in the dugout after the first baseman scored the go-ahead run. The pitcher slapped Ruf's hand before both returned to the field.

Lagares was due up third. The celebration proved to be short-lived.