PHILADELPHIA _ Moments after a 96-mph purpose pitch jolted the Mets to life, Jay Bruce crushed a two-run homer in the eighth inning on Monday night, the difference in a 4-3 victory over the Phillies.
Bruce hit his second homer of the game and his fourth in the season's opening week, easily the hottest bat in another wise stagnant Mets' lineup to start the year. The game-winning blast came after Asdrubal Cabrera took exception to an Edubray Ramos fastball that whizzed behind his head.
The two have history. Last September, it was Ramos who served up an 11th-inning, walk-off homer to Cabrera, whose towering blast was rivaled only by his mammoth bat flip. It was a reflection of the stakes of that game, with the Mets desperately trying to secure a wild-card spot.
Apparently, it did not sit well with Ramos. Cabrera watched the fastball, then immediately pointed toward the mound, where Ramos held out his arms. Catcher Cameron Rupp jumped in front of Cabrera, who stared down Ramos.
Umpire Allan Porter issued warnings. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin took exception and was ejected. Cabrera walked, Yoenis Cespedes struck out on three pitches, and the righty Ramos ceded to the lefty Joely Rodriguez. He had been summoned specifically to neutralize Bruce, even though he had allowed hits to the Mets slugger in two previous meetings.
Bruce made it three hits, this one a two-run shot that sailed toward his face _ which was displayed on the video board suspended above the right field fence.
It provided just enough cushion for closer Addison Reed in the ninth. Filling in for the suspended Jeurys Familia, Reed allowed a leadoff homer to Brock Stassi, his first big-league hit. He then surrendered a one-out pinch-hit single to Daniel Nava. But Reed closed out his second save in as many days, ending a comeback victory that was coated in drama.
With manager Terry Collins searching for ways to snap the Mets lineup out of its season-opening funk, he has viewed the cleanup spot as a place to play the hot hand. No one has been hotter than Bruce.
Maligned for flopping following his trade from the Reds last season, Bruce has been a savior for the Mets. Through seven games, he's hitting .304 with four homers.
Bruce's first homer on Monday night was a solo shot that halved the Mets' deficit. It came after the Phillies took a 2-0 lead early against Jacob deGrom, who needed 31 pitches to navigate a first inning of errant fastballs, bloop hits and line drives.
In a rare bout with his command, deGrom walked the leadoff man. Two batters later, Odubel Herrera blooped a single into shallow left. Maikel Franco followed with a hit to shallow center, a ball that Curtis Granderson appeared to have in his sights.
Michael Saunders pulled an RBI single to right, perhaps the hardest-hit ball of the inning against deGrom. But the next cut wound was self-inflicted. With the bases loaded and the count full to Cameron Rupp, deGrom missed well outside to force in another run.
Only a double play ball limited the damage, though deGrom used the grounder as a launching point. He breezed through the second and left a pair of runners stranded in the third. Not until the fourth did deGrom record his first strikeout, and it came against the opposing pitcher, Jerad Eikhoff. By then, deGrom reasserted control of the game, holding the Phillies to two runs in six innings long after a lesser pitcher would have been chased.
Bruce started the game-tying rally in the seventh, drawing a leadoff walk and then scoring on a Neil Walker sacrifice fly, all after reaching third base on the first of two Phillies errors in the inning.
In the seventh, the Phillies nearly tied it up. With two outs and runners on first and second, lefty Jerry Blevins bounced a pitch well in front of the plate. Travis d'Arnaud smothered it with an athletic play and fired to second, where Cabrera needed a dive to keep it from sailing into center. At first base, Howie Kendrick mistakenly thought the ball got by. Kendrick took off for second only to get wiped out, setting the stage for the Mets to push ahead in the eighth.
