NEW YORK — The New York Mets refused to die Thursday night. They beat the Phillies, 9-8, on the strength of Asdrubal Cabrera's three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Edubray Ramos gave up the homer.
The Phillies blew a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth when Jeanmar Gomez allowed a two-run homer to Jose Reyes.
A.J. Ellis, in his first at-bat of the game, gave the Phillies the lead in the top of the 11th and the Phillies pushed across a second run on a bases-loaded walk to take an 8-6 lead.
The Phillies had taken a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning thanks to Maikel Franco’s go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the eighth. It was Franco’s first homer since Aug. 18.
Gomez couldn't protect the lead in the ninth. He has an 11.20 ERA in his last 17 games.
The Mets maintained a share of the NL wild-card lead with the win.
Starting pitching report
Adam Morgan worked five innings and gave up five hits and three runs.
The Phillies took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, but Morgan could not protect it in the bottom of the inning. He gave up a walk and a pair of two-out hits as the Mets rallied for a run to tie the game at 3-3.
Mets right-hander Seth Lugo gave up four hits, including two homers, and three runs over five innings.
Bullpen report
The Phils got good bullpen work from Joely Rodriguez, Hector Neris and Severino Gonzalez. Gomez and Ramos gave up five runs on homers.
Franco’s go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth came against right-hander Addison Reed.
MLB
At the plate
Cesar Hernandez stroked his 11th triple of the season (he’s tied for the NL lead with Arizona’s Chris Owings) in the fourth inning and scored the Phillies’ first run on a groundout by Roman Quinn.
Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp hit consecutive pitches for home runs to give the Phils a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth.
Howard and Franco share the team lead with 23 homers. Howard reached 23 homers in 306 at-bats.
Before the game, Mackanin said Howard would play “a lot” over the final 10 games of the season. Howard is in the final guaranteed season of his contract and will move on at season’s end.
Howard has 47 homers and 134 RBIs against the Mets in his career.
The Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Morgan on a two-run homer by Curtis Granderson in the bottom of the second. Granderson pulled a 0-2 pitch on the inside corner down the right-field line. Yoenis Cespedes had a pair of RBI hits with two outs. One tied the game in the fifth. The other gave the Mets a lead in the seventh.
Health check
Tyler Goeddel was diagnosed with a concussion (see story).
Up next
The series continues on Friday night. Jeremy Hellickson (12-9, 3.57) pitches for the Phillies against right-hander Gabriel Ynoa (1-0, 9.00).