Matt Harvey Wins Wild Game in Citi Field Return

Matt Harvey returned to a packed, raucous Citi Field Tuesday night. And while he was not at his best, he walked away with a win in a wild one that featured some poor work by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. Oh, and David Wright left the game with a hamstring injury.

Harvey got off to a great start, striking out the first two batters as the crowd went wild. But it was silenced when Chase Utley homered to right to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead.

But the Mets answered back in the bottom of the inning. Curtis Granderson and David Wright both singled, and Wright scored on a Michael Cuddyer single to tie the score at one.

The Mets loaded the bases in the second inning when Juan Lagares singled, Wilmer Flores was hit on the hand by a pitch (he stayed in the game) and Granderson singled again. Lucas Duda then hit a bases-clearing double and the Mets had a 4-1 lead. The next batter Michael Cuddyer was also hit on the hand by a pitch, but he had to leave the game. Fortunately it is nothing serious.

Utley got the Phillies one run closer in the third with a single. Before the single, Harvey hit Freddy Galvis with a pitch that may have not hit him at all (and took the confused umpires several minutes to decide that the Mets could not challenge the call). And Cody Asche got them even closer with a solo homer in the fourth to make it a 4-3 game.

With a runner on second, Harvey hit Utley in the back with two outs in the fifth; it sparked the umpires to warn both teams. Marquez then awarded Ryan Howard first base on a dubious catcher’s interference call to load the bases. Terry Collins was thrown out of the game for arguing the call. Harvey got out of it with a pop up to third.

Duda led off the fifth with his second double of the game. When Travis d’Arnaud singled to left, Duda was waved in. He slid home while Ruiz tried to swipe a tag. Marquez made no call. Duda then dove back to the plate and was ruled safe. The Phillies challenged and it turned out Duda actually touched the plate on his initial slide while Ruiz missed the tag. Marquez must have been watching Ruiz and not Duda. In any case, it gave the Mets a 5-3 lead.

Matt Harvey made it through six innings and 94 pitches, allowing three runs on five hits. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter.

Daniel Murphy led off the seventh inning with a home run that cleared the new shorter fence in right-center to make it 6-3.

Utley hit his second homer of the night in the eighth to cut the lead to 6-4.

Wright stole second in the ninth and slid awkwardly, pulling his right hamstring. He tried to stay in the game but ultimately he had to leave.

With the Mets short bench, Anthony Recker had to play third base for the first time in his major league life in the ninth inning. Jeurys Familia came for the save attempt. Duda made a really nice play to take away a hit for the first out. Good thing because old pal Jeff Francoeur then homered into the seats in left to make it a 6-5 game. Familia struck out the next two batters to end the game.

Mets win a crazy one, 6-5.