The Philadelphia Phillies lost, 7-4, on Tuesday night for their fourth loss in five games, and second to the New York Mets in as many days. The Phillies battered Mets starter Miguel Batista with eight hits in his 5 1/3 innings on the mound, and took a 4-0 lead after two innings.
Hunter Pence hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and Pete Orr and Shane Victorino hit an RBI single and double, respectively, in the second to give Philadelphia a comfortable early lead. Batista settled down before being relieved by Manny Acosta, giving up three more hits for the rest of his stint on the mound.
Daniel Murphy put the Mets on the board with a single to score Kirk Nieuwenhuis in the fourth. Otherwise, Phillies starter Joe Blanton was solid on the mound until the sixth, when he put two men on then gave up a run-scoring single to Nieuwenhuis. Chad Qualls replaced Blanton after the hit, and gave up a David Wright single that scored two and advanced Wright to third on a throwing error by Pete Orr. The blunder allowed the Mets to tie the game at four runs apiece.
Lucas Duda broke the tie with a single off Antonio Bastardo on the next at-bat to give his team the lead for good. New York scored again off a Nieuwehuis sac fly and Duda single in the ninth to cap scoring at 7-4.
Manny Acosta earned the win after allowing no hits and no runs in 2/3 innings on the mound in relief of Batista. Qualls was tagged with the loss. Orr and John Mayberry Jr. went 2-for-4 from the plate, and Juan Pierre went 2-for-5.
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