Mets Salvage Final Game with Phillies

After two humiliating loses, the Mets salvaged the final game of the series with the Phillies 7-4. Bobby Parnell may have been credited with his first save as the closer-of-the-moment, but rest assured it was Justin Turner who saved this game.

The Mets exploded for four runs in the first, capped off with a three-run homer from Nick Evans (below). Evans is hot — he was 3-4 with four RBIs on Wednesday after going 2-4 with a double and a triple on Tuesday. It’s nice to see him hit; I always thought he had potential, but he never really delivered in the majors.

Starter Mike Pelfrey was up to his old tricks, giving three runs back in the second. But the Mets offense made up for it, scoring single runs in the following three innings to take a comfortable lead. David Wright homered for the run in the third — he was also 3-4, with two RBIs.

The Mets were up 7-4 in the eighth when the Phillies managed to get runners on first and third with one out off of Manny Acosta. Placido Polanco hit a grounder to second that looked like it was going through. The game was about to be 7-5 with two runners on. And from there, you just know the Phillies were going to pull it out. But Turner dove and came up with the ball, flipped in to Ruben Tejada at second who turned the double play. Inning over, lead intact.

Things got hairy in the ninth when Parnell walked the leadoff batter. He struck out the next two hitters, but then walked another batter. He then induced Carlos Ruiz to hit an easy grounder to short. Game over, Mets win.

So the losing streak is stopped at five. Nice to get this win with the red-hot Braves coming into Citi Field for a weekend series. A nine-game losing streak was definitely a possibility.