Mets Manage 4 Hits in 5-2 Loss to Phillies

Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer off Matt Harvey in the first appearance at Citi Field for the Mets ace since he failed to close out Game 5 of last year's World Series, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat New York 5-2 Sunday.

Philadelphia won the last two games of the three-game series after an 0-4 start. The Phillies already have more wins at Citi Field this season than last year, when they went 1-8.

Jeremy Hellickson (1-0) held the Mets hitless until Yoenis Cespedes lined an opposite-field single to right in the fourth and kept them scoreless until Cespedes chased him with a two-run homer in the sixth that cut Philadelphia's lead to 3-2.

The Mets wore replicas of the uniforms used by their 1986 World Series champions, with royal blue and orange racing stripes, outfits that will be sported for Sunday home games this year.

But they hit more like their offensively challenged early 1960s version, entering with a .192 batting average that ranked 28th among the 30 big league teams.

A day after getting just three hits in a 1-0 loss, New York was held to four hits by Hellickson and three relievers, and the NL champions dropped to 2-3 - their record before 11-game winning streaks in 1986 and last year.

New York's scoreless stretch had reached 15 innings when Cespedes, 2 for 16 coming in, homered on the 11th pitch of an at-bat, sending a changeup over the left-field wall. That finished Hellickson, who allowed three hits in 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and one walk.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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