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The New York Mets will try to continue to close the gap in the NL East race tonight as they play the Philadelphia Phillies in the third contest of a four-game series from Citizens Bank Park.
The Mets lost the opener 6-5 on Monday, but won 4-1 last night behind a strong pitching performance from veteran Al Leiter, who threw seven innings of one-run ball. Richard Hidalgo drove in a pair of runs and Kazuo Matsui had three hits and scored twice for the Mets, who have won five of their last six games. Braden Looper threw 1.1 scoreless innings for his 17th save of the year.
The victory pulled the Mets back within two games of the first-place Phillies in the NL East. New York is also tied with Florida for second place and just a half game ahead of Atlanta in the tightly bunched division.
Leiter (5-2) surrendered just three hits, struck out three and walked three. The left-hander improved to 4-0 over his last seven starts.
Steve Trachsel will be on the mound tonight for the Mets. The 34-year-old right-hander is coming off a victory over the Yankees last Friday when he gave up just three hits and two unearned runs in seven innings in an 11-2 final. He is 3-1 over his last four starts. On the negative side, Trachsel is 1-4 with a 7.88 ERA in six road games this year.
Trachsel has faced the Phillies once this season, picking up a victory on May 25 at Shea Stadium when he allowed four hits in 6.2 innings in a 5-0 Mets triumph. He is 9-7 with a 3.69 ERA in 22 lifetime games versus Philadelphia.
Hidalgo has hit safely in nine straight games and during that stretch is batting .471 (16-for-34) with seven homers and 11 RBI. Hidalgo, who was acquired June 18 from the Houston Astros, set a Mets record with a homer in his fifth straight game on Monday, and on Tuesday had an RBI triple and a run-scoring single.
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