Phils Still Stuck In Last After Mets Slide Past Them 6-5

Anthony Recker snapped a sixth-inning tie with a three-run homer in a rare start, and the New York Mets held offPhiladelphia 6-5 Sunday to avoid dropping into the NL East basement.

"We had some missed opportunities on the offensive side of things," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Men on third base, less than two outs. Second and third, less than two outs. We weren't able to capitalize on those situations."

Wilmer Flores had three hits and made two sparkling defensive plays at shortstop in the final two innings to help New York hang on. By taking two of three in the series, the Mets kept Philadelphia in the division cellar.

Dillon Gee (6-6) pitched effectively into the seventh inning, and New York finished 13-6 against the Phillies this season.

Domonic Brown homered and had a career-high four hits for Philadelphia, but grounded out with a runner on to end it. Ryan Howard also went deep.

Recker, a backup catcher who had not played since Aug. 19 in Oakland, lined the first pitch he saw from A.J. Burnett in the sixth into the left-field seats to give the Mets a 5-2 lead. The home run was only his third hit since the All-Star break.

Burnett (7-15), who has struggled mightily this season against the team that drafted him, looked sharp early on but ended up allowing five runs and nine hits over six inconsistent innings. Recker's drive was the one that stung the most.

"I think it was one pitch. You can pitch out of jams. You can make pitches. You can walk guys," Burnett said. "That hanging deuce there, man, in the sixth — not a good pitch. Not in that situation."

Gee dodged trouble all afternoon, stranding a runner at third three times.

With the bases loaded in the fourth, Wil Nieves grounded into a double play started by Flores. Ben Revere was left at third when Jimmy Rollins struck out in the fifth. And in the sixth, Gee struck out Nieves with runners at the corners before Cody Asche flied out to deep right-center.

"We were fortunate there with the Nieves double play. It was a nice turn," Gee said. "I thought the big one was also the strikeout to end the inning to Rollins. That was a big strikeout. I needed that bad."

Brown drove Jeurys Familia's third pitch just over the left-center fence leading off the eighth to pull the Phillies to 5-4.

Mets rookie Dilson Herrera, who made his major league debut Friday night, added an important insurance run in the bottom half with his first career RBI, driving in Kirk Nieuwenhuis with a single.

Philadelphia put its first two hitters on in the ninth before Herrera and Flores turned a tough double play against Howard. Grady Sizemore had an RBI single before Jenrry Mejia retired Brown for his 21st save.

Flores also helped Familia with a diving play on Revere's hard-hit grounder to end the eighth.

MOVING ON

Before the game, the Phillies released RHP Jason Marquis, who had been pitching at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 36-year-old Marquis signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in June and had made eight starts with Lehigh Valley this season, going 3-1 with a 4.63 ERA.

HALL OF FAME COMPANY

Rollins' RBI single in the seventh gave him 657 multihit games, tying Richie Ashburn for the franchise record. "I had no idea. That's cool, though," the veteran shortstop said. "I've heard a lot about Richie. To do that is another cool feat along the way." ... Burnett passed Hall of Famer Early Wynn for 45th place on the career strikeout list.

FAST AND FURIOUS

Revere swiped his 40th base in the fifth, becoming the 12th player in Phillies history to reach the mark. He also stole 40 in 2012 with Minnesota.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Phillies: OF-1B John Mayberry Jr. (left wrist inflammation) arrived in the clubhouse a few hours before the game. He was scheduled to fly with the team to Atlanta afterward, and is expected to be activated from the disabled list for Monday's game against the Braves.

UP NEXT

Phillies: LHP Cole Hamels (7-6, 2.59 ERA) faces 13-game winner Julio Teheran on Monday afternoon in Atlanta.