The Sports Xchange
Oct 1, 2017
PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Phillies' capped their second-half resurgence with a happy send off for their departing manager.
Philadelphia's offense came alive in the fourth inning, when the Phillies scored six runs to spark an 11-0 victory against the New York Mets.
Rookie outfielder Nick Williams' three-run inside-the-park homer in a five-run eighth inning was the exclamation point.
The Phillies secured the No. 3 overall pick in next June's draft. The Mets finished with their worst record since 2009, when they also went 70-92.
Thanks to improved pitching and prospects who thrived, Philadelphia went 37-38 following the All-Star break after winning only 29 of their first 87 games.
The 25,754 fans gave manager Pete Mackanin a standing ovation as he swapped lineup cards at home plate for the final time as Phillies manager before Sunday's game. Mackanin and Mets manager Terry Collins, who also will not return to his position next year, exchanged hugs.
Mackanin tipped his cap to the crowd in acknowledgment as he returned to the dugout where Phillies coaches and players greeted him with handshakes. General manager Matt Klentak announced Friday that Mackanin has been reassigned and will become a special assistant to the GM in 2018.
The Phillies sent 11 batters to the plate during their six-run fourth inning.
Maikel Franco's three-run homer off reliever Chris Flexen broke the scoreless game. His 24 home runs led the Phillies this season.
Back-to-back bad defensive plays in the inning by Mets rookie first baseman Dom Smith kept the inning alive.
A charging Smith couldn't handle Phillies starting pitcher Nick Pivetta's routine sacrifice bunt, failing to field the ball cleanly and then threw it away on his toss to first base. A run scored on the error, and on the next pitch, Smith again bungled the play.
After fielding Cesar Hernandez's ball, his tossed it to pitcher Flexen, who was nearby but not covering first base, instead of second baseman Gavin Cecchini. J.P. Crawford scored on the play for a 5-0 lead.
The Phillies added another run on Odubel Herrera's single to right field.
Mets starter Noah Syndergaard pitched two scoreless innings, walking one batter and striking out two. Syndergaard's workload was limited in his second outing since returning from a torn right latissimus muscle that caused the right-hander to miss nearly five months.
Pivetta limited the Mets to two hits in five shutout innings. He worked around five walks and struck out seven on 98 pitches.
NOTES: With his pinch-hit double in the sixth inning, SS Freddy Galvis became the first Phillie to play in all 162 games since Ryan Howard in 2008, and the 11th in franchise history. ... The Phillies averaged 4.77 runs per game in the second half, their highest total in any single half of a season since they averaged 4.83 runs per game in 2010 after the All-Star break. ... Sunday represented the 166th consecutive game the Phillies used a right-handed starting pitcher, the second-longest streak in franchise history.