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Rapid Reaction: Phillies 5, Mets 1

WHAT IT MEANS: Jonathon Niese showed no effects from the comebacker that struck him in the right leg. The lack of support came from teammates.

Scott Atchison allowed a pair of runners inherited from Niese to score in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies ultimately swept the light-hitting Mets with a 5-1 win Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Scott Atchison

Scott Atchison

#50 RP
New York Mets

2013 STATS

  • GM11
  • W0

  • L0

  • BB4

  • K4

  • ERA4.35

The Mets (10-13) completed their homestand by dropping three games under .500. Philadelphia has won nine of the past 10 games between the teams.

Niese took a scoreless effort into the fifth, when he surrendered a solo homer to Freddy Galvis that evened the score at 1. The southpaw departed with that score intact after surrendering consecutive two-out singles in the seventh to Laynce Nix and Jimmy Rollins.

With Niese's pitch count at 117, Terry Collins summoned Atchison. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel countered by inserting Ryan Howard as a pinch hitter for Kevin Frandsen.

Howard responded with a two-run double that gave Philadelphia a 3-1 lead. Chase Utley added an RBI single. And the Phillies had a three-run cushion.

Niese could have been out of the inning with no damage and the score still tied at 1. Although it was a challenging catch, John Buck was charged with an error for dropping a foul pop from Nix near the Phillies' dugout, which prolonged that at-bat.

The Mets mustered only three hits in the game anyway.

WHOOPS: David Wright's errorless streak ended at 77 games when he flubbed a grounder from Carlos Ruiz in the first inning while transferring the baseball from his glove to throwing hand. The now-over streak is the longest in franchise history for a third baseman.

Wright's error, preceded by a throwing error by Niese and a walk, had loaded the bases with two outs. But Niese escaped by getting Domonic Brown to tap a ball a foot in front of the plate.

Wright -- restored to the No. 3 slot after two games at cleanup -- then staked the Mets to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a single that plated Ruben Tejada, who had doubled.

COLE CASE: Cole Hamels limited the Mets to one run and two hits and departed after six innings with his pitch count at 111. Despite matching a career high with six walks, Hamels earned his first 2013 win courtesy of the three-run seventh by the Phillies.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Mets and Marlins match their young phenoms as Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez face off Monday at 7:10 p.m. in Miami. Harvey is bidding for the third 5-0 April in franchise history. He would join Pedro Martinez (2006) and Dwight Gooden (1988). The Mets are 5-0 in Harvey starts and 5-13 otherwise.