Cespedes, Syndergaard help Mets rout Phillies again, 12-1

Colon led off the bottom of the inning with his fifth career extra-base hit, a double to the left field wall. He earned the victory in his most recent start August 20, when he gave up two runs over seven innings as the Phillies beat the Cardinals 4-2.

The home runs by Reyes and Cabrera to start the game marked the second time in team history that the Mets opened a game with back-to-back home runs.

The Mets eye their fifth win in six tries Friday when they begin a 10-game homestand with the opener of a three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies.New York opened its long journey by dropping two of three to NL West-worst Arizona and was outscored 18-8 in its first two games in San Francisco to fall 5 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the chase for the NL’s second wild-card. Mostly healthy at last after lagging through much of the summer as one of baseball’s weakest offenses, the Mets have totaled 31 runs while winning their past three games. It was their third loss in their last four games, and sixth in their last nine.

“It all boils down to consistency and being able to repeat and do it over and over again”, manager Pete Mackanin said. “We can’t square the ball up off of him”.

Tigers 4, Angels 2: Justin Verlander pitched into the eighth inning, and Justin Upton homered for the fourth time in five games. Over 25 starts and a 10-7 record this year, Hellickson has put up a 3.60 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP.

“We thought right now with the way Grandy is struggling that would be a good spot to hit him”, Collins said of Cabrera. There aren’t many guys left that are sinker ball guys and if they are, they’re throwing 95. “He’s kind of a rare bird”. You don’t face guys like that. The 26-year-old left-hander with the 6-something ERA helped himself a week ago with a sharp performance against the Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park.

Pitching for the Phillies on Saturday will be right-hander Jeremy Hellickson. It was the first major league RBI for Morgan, who entered the at-bat with one hit in 21 at-bats this season and just three hits in his first 47 big league at-bats dating back to past year. Once in a while isn’t getting it done. “He has to be more consistent”.

Morgan has had back-to-back quality starts just once this season, in early June. “I see improvements. Sure, the home runs and the numbers will tell you different, but I see improvements”, Morgan said. I just know that I’m learning. After spending the first nine seasons in NY and making a few stops with different clubs along the way, Reyes entered Friday with a.274 average and a.453 OPS. The next pitch left the playing field, too, as Cabrera sent his 14th home run of the season into the visiting bullpen, perhaps as a nudge to the Phillies relievers that they had better get their arms loose. Cesar Hernandez had a two-run double and Aaron Altherr added an RBI double on Colon’s 101st and final pitch to make it 9-4.

With his 230th career win, Colon passed Luis Tiant for third-most by a pitcher born in Latin America. Later in the inning, Neil Walker worked a nine-pitch walk.