Sep 16, 2007, 21:24 GMT
Flushing, NY - Greg Dobbs' pinch-hit grand slam highlighted a five-run sixth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game series sweep of the New York Mets with a 10-6 win at Shea Stadium.
Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand and Jayson Werth each scored a pair of runs for the Phillies, who have pulled within 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Mets in the NL East and remain 1 1/2 games behind the Padres in the wild card race. San Diego beat San Francisco, 5-1, Sunday.
Jimmy Rollins added an RBI and scored once for Philadelphia, which swept the Mets for the third time this season and finished the 18-game season-series with 12 wins. Chase Utley also drove in a run as the Phillies have won four in a row.
Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer and David Wright also homered for the Mets, who committed six errors that led to four unearned runs in suffering their fourth loss in five outings. Luis Castillo also drove in a run for New York, which has dropped seven in a row to the Phillies.
'It's a bad time to play bad baseball, no doubt about that, especially with the Phillies behind us,' said New York manager Willie Randolph. 'We were there about two weeks ago and responded so now we have to respond again, bottom line. Everyone thinks it's easy to win divisions but we know it's not. Last time we went through this we responded well, so it's another challenge to respond to this and we will.'
After losing four straight to the Phillies to end August, the Mets won 12 of 14 games before again being swept in this series.
Moises Alou extended his hitting streak to 20 games, ending with three of the nine hits for the Mets.
After the Mets rallied to tie the game in the fifth inning, the New York bullpen gave the lead right back to Philadelphia in the sixth. Guillermo Mota started the inning by walking Burrell. Ryan Howard then reached on a throwing error by Castillo at second and Mota then walked Rowand, loading the bases.
Jorge Sosa came on for Mota and walked Werth to force in the go-ahead run. Dobbs then followed with the first grand slam of his career, giving Philadelphia a 10-5 cushion.
'I was just trying to make hard contact and at least get us one run,' said Dobbs. 'That's it, just try to get a run in because there were no outs, even a double play, whatever, just put the ball in play. Got to two strikes and said all right, now I really got to bear down, I've really got to try to put a barrel on the ball and give us a chance here, just something. Then I ran into one pitch and barely kept it fair.'
Dobbs was also the hero for the Phillies in the opener of this series, as it was his sacrifice fly in the 10th inning that propelled the Phillies to a 3-2 win.
Wright homered in the seventh to cut the deficit to four runs, but New York didn't get any closer.
Mota (2-2) suffered the loss. He was one of a team-record tying eight hurlers for New York in the game.
Phillies reliever Geoff Geary (3-2) got the win, yielding one run on two hits over two innings.
The Phillies got to New York starter Oliver Perez for a pair of runs in the second inning to start the game's scoring. With the bases loaded and two outs, Rollins hit a grounder to short that was booted by Jose Reyes to allow the first run to score. His ensuing throw to second got by Castillo, also going for an error, and Carlos Ruiz scored with the second run.
Philadelphia added another run in the third courtesy of Wes Helms' sacrifice fly.
New York got a run back in the third when Endy Chavez scored on Castillo's fielder's choice grounder, but the Phillies got that run right back in the fourth.
Alou dropped an easy fly ball off the bat of Rollins in left field to start the inning, allowing the runner to go to third, and Utley followed with a double down the third base line to make it a 4-1 contest.
Paul Lo Duca's sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning plated Beltran, cutting the deficit to two runs, but Rollins doubled home Werth in the fifth to again put the Phillies ahead three runs, 5-2.
Beltran, though, tied the game in the fifth with a three-run homer off Phillies starter Adam Eaton.
Eaton, who was lifted after Alou followed Beltran's homer with a base hit, was charged with five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Perez was hit for five runs -- two earned -- on six hits with six strikeouts and six walks over 4 2/3 frames.
Game Notes
The seven-game win streak against the Mets is the longest for the Phillies against the club since winning 10 in a row in the 1980 season...The Mets' six errors is the most since September 13, 2002 at Montreal...New York last used eight pitchers in a nine-inning game on September 8, 2001 at Florida...Wright hit his 30th homer of the season, becoming the fourth youngest player in major league history to have 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season. He is also the first met to reach the 30-30 mark since Howard Johnson in 1987...Reyes had a 43-game errorless streak end...Alou is the oldest player in major league history to have a 20-game hitting streak, at 41 years, 75 days. Pete Rose was 41 years, 74 days old when he had a 21-game hit streak end in 1982...Dobbs has 18 RBI as a pinch hitter this season...Rollins had a 54-game errorless streak end. It was the longest streak by a shortstop in the majors this season.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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