Germen pitches in, bails out Mets again
NEW YORK -- The crowd of 26,722 at Citi Field saw a young New York Mets pitcher take a big step forward on Saturday during his second appearance at home.
Only it wasn't Zack Wheeler, the pitcher most fans came to see.
Rookie reliever Gonzalez Germen bailed Wheeler out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings to earn his first big league victory as the Mets hung on to beat the Phillies, 5-4.
Germen was making his fourth big league appearance, but in two of them he has escaped a bases-loaded situation. He got the Pirates' Gaby Sanchez to pop out to end the seventh inning of the Mets' 4-2 loss in Pittsburgh last Saturday night.
This time, Germen preserved a 4-2 lead, needing only five pitches to strike out Delmon Young, who entered the at-bat with five hits in seven at-bats in the series.
"The kid's doing his job right now," Young said. "They haven't been tossing him into some easy situations. He's been pitching in big situations."
Such performances under pressure might quickly make Germen a reliever that Mets manager Collins will count on as the Mets begin searching for youth in a bullpen that features five pitchers 30 or older.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't be using him a little bit more," Collins said. "He's got a great arm. He's a young guy and one of the things we talked about in spring training was we need to find some relief down the road.
"He might be the guy who steps up and grabs one of those jobs."
There's no doubt that Wheeler, who was the Mets' top prospect entering the season, has grabbed a rotation job, but he again battled command issues in his sixth big league start.
Although he walked only two batters, both in the fifth inning, Wheeler went to a full count six times. And of the 27 pitches he threw in the fifth, only 10 were strikes.
It appeared Wheeler might get out of trouble and become eligible for his fourth big league win when Domonic Brown swung at a 3-and-0 pitch and flied out for the second out.
But Collins pulled Wheeler after he walked Darin Ruf on a 3-and-2 pitch.
"That was definitely tough; I wanted to get through that inning," Wheeler said. "Not just for the win, but just to get out of that jam so we didn't have to use the bullpen earlier than we had to."
Wheeler allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out five. He has walked at least three batters in four of his first five starts and has 18 walks in 32 2/3 innings overall.
"If you throw strikes, you can get yourself deep into games, because he's hard to hit," Collins said of Wheeler, who limited the Giants to three hits in seven innings in his previous start on July 10.
"But the 3-2 counts are what's killing him."
Germen threw a perfect sixth inning before issuing a one-out walk in the seventh to Michael Young and giving way to Scott Rice, who combined with LaTroy Hawkins for 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Bobby Parnell earned his 18th save despite allowing a two-out, two-run home run by Chase Utley in the ninth. Both runs were unearned because of Josh Satin's error on Michael Young's two-out grounder.
Marlon Byrd and Juan Lagares each had RBI singles during a three-run first inning for the Mets, who sent eight batters to the plate against losing pitcher Cole Hamels.
Lagares tied a career-high with three hits while Byrd had two hits.
Anthony Recker capped off the first inning scoring with a run-scoring fielder's choice groundout, and Daniel Murphy and David Wright added RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively.
Murphy was 2-for-4, scored a run and had a stolen base.
Utley finished 2-for-4 and added a fifth-inning sacrifice fly for the Phillies. Young went 3-for-4 and Jimmy Rollins was 2-for-5 with a leadoff home run.
Hamels (4-12) tied a career-high with his NL-leading 12th loss.
"First inning was obviously what decided the whole game," Hamels said. "And that's definitely not a way you want to put your team in the situation (of) having to battle back, especially when we were able to get that big leadoff homer from Jimmy."
NOTES: First pitch temperature at 1:11 p.m. was 93 degrees, two degrees cooler than the first pitch temperature 18 hours earlier. ... The series concludes Sunday, when the Mets send All-Star Game starter Matt Harvey to the mound against Cliff Lee, who threw an inning in Tuesday's Midsummer Classic. The Harvey-Lee matchup will be one of two games pitting All-Stars against each other. The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw will oppose the Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann in Washington, D.C. ... Mets catcher John Buck, who sustained a leg cramp while batting in the eighth inning of the Phillies' 13-8 win on Friday night, sat out Saturday but is expected to start on Sunday. ... Jimmy Rollins' leadoff home run was his second of the season and the 45th of his career, which broke a tie with Brady Anderson for fourth all-time. Craig Biggio ranks third with 53 lead-ff home runs. ... With his walk in the fifth inning, Darin Ruf of the Phillies has reached base via a hit or walk in 20 straight games dating to last season. He has reached base safely in all 19 of his career starts.
