Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Rapid Reaction: Mets 16, Phillies 7

PHILADELPHIA -- On the night David Wright returned from a 131-day absence with a homer on his first swing and Jacob deGrom's Cy Young candidacy took a hit, Wilmer Flores again proved the best trades sometimes are the ones that don’t happen.

Flores homered twice and drove in five runs as the New York Mets overcame a five-run deficit and outslugged the Philadelphia Phillies, 16-7, in Monday’s series opener at Citizens Bank Park.

With long balls from Wright, Juan Lagares, Travis d'Arnaud, Michael Cuddyer, Daniel Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes in addition to Flores’ pair, the Mets set a franchise record with eight homers. The previous record: Seven homers on April 19, 2005 at Philly. Wright homered that day, too. The Mets also set a franchise record with 15 extra-base hits.

The Mets (68-56) opened a season-high 5½ lead over the idle Washington Nationals for first place in the National League East. The Amazin’s are 12 games over .500 for the first time since finishing the 2008 season 89-73. The magic number for their first postseason appearance in nine years is down to 34.

The Mets matched a season high by overcoming a five-run deficit. They had turned an 8-3 deficit into a 10-8 win against the Atlanta Braves on June 14.

With the Mets trailing 7-2 in the fourth, Flores delivered a two-run homer against Phillies starter Adam Morgan. An inning later, Flores’ three-run shot against Hector Neris staked the Mets to an 8-7 lead and took deGrom off the hook.

The Mets’ bats have awoken during a road trip that most recently has stopped at hitter-friendly Coors Field and Citizens Bank Park. The Amazin’s have scored 14, 14, 5 and 16 runs in their past four games.

The 11 combined homers in the game matched the National League record. It last had been done on May 17, 1979 (Cubs 6, Phillies 5).

Flores has provided several heroics since a July 29 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gomez fizzled in public view. That included a walk-off homer against the Nats two days after the deal fell apart.

The Mets improved to 9-1 against the Phillies this season.

Wright stuff: Wright batted .321 during his rehab assignment with Class A St. Lucie, but all nine hits were singles. Well, in his first major league at-bat after returning from spinal stenosis, Wright sent a leadoff shot in the second inning into the second deck in left field on a 90 mph fastball from Morgan.

Wright finished 2-for-5 with a walk, three runs scored and two strikeouts. He also committed two errors in his first game since April 14.

Wright has homered in his first at-bat off the DL after each of his last two trips. Both long balls have come in Philly. He also took Cole Hamels deep on Sept. 20, 2013, after a seven-week absence for a hamstring strain.

Wright now has 20 career homers at Citizens Bank Park, the most of any visiting player since the ballpark opened in 2004.

Wright’s first error came in the fifth, when he failed to handle a line drive off the bat of Cameron Rupp. His second error came on a two-out grounder from Jeff Francoeur an inning later, which loaded the bases. Sean Gilmartin then coaxed a foul popout from Brown to bail out Wright.

Taking a hit: DeGrom surrendered a career-high seven runs in a career-low 2 2/3 innings.

Only once in 45 previous career starts had deGrom failed to complete five innings (4 1/3 innings on June 16, 2014 vs. St. Louis). The seven runs surrendered by deGrom matched the total he had allowed in his previous seven starts, spanning 48 2/3 innings. Six of the runs were earned.

DeGrom’s ERA swelled from 1.98 to 2.29. Monday provided a hit to deGrom becoming the third qualifying pitcher in franchise history to finish a season with a sub-2.00 ERA. Dwight Gooden had a 1.53 ERA in 1985 and Tom Seaver had a 1.76 ERA in 1971.

The Phillies posted three runs apiece against deGrom in the first and third innings. Each marked the most runs allowed by deGrom in a frame since a three-run first inning by the Chicago Cubs on May 11 at Wrigley Field, which included homers by Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.

Domonic Brown's three-run homer in the third staked Philadelphia to a 7-2 lead. It came two batters after Murphy’s error at first base. Murphy missed a grounder off the bat of Andres Blanco on a would-be double play, which should have meant the basepaths empty by the time Brown batted.

DeGrom allowed a career-high-matching three homers in an 82-pitch effort.

What a relief: Gilmartin contributed 3 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in relief of deGrom to earn the win. He also went 1-for-2.

What’s next: Noah Syndergaard (7-6, 3.17 ERA) opposes right-hander Jerome Williams (4-9, 6.10) on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET.

^ Back to Top ^