Howard again sends Phillies to victory

Philadelphia, PA -- At 34 years of age, Ryan Howard's best days are fading quickly in the rearview mirror, but that doesn't mean the former Big Piece can't show up every once in a while with a Little Piece of his old magic to help the Phillies through their worst season in more than a decade.

On Sunday afternoon, Howard hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a six-run rally and lift Philadelphia to a 7-6 comeback win over the New York Mets in the third test of a four-game set.

Cody Asche led off the ninth with a double against Jenrry Mejia (5-5), and Marlon Byrd rolled a single back up the middle to bring him home and tie the game.

"You know, it could be the work load," Mets manager Terry Collins said of Mejia. "He's still throwing hard. His velocity hit 96 today. His velocity is good, I don't know if the crispness on his breaking ball is what we've seen it to be."

Ben Revere struck out and Jimmy Rollins lined out before Byrd stole second during Chase Utley's at-bat. Utley, who was a double shy of the cycle, was intentionally walked and Howard followed by lining his base hit down the line in right to plate Byrd.

Ken Giles (1-0) fired a scoreless top of the ninth to notch his first career win and salvage some respect for the hosts, who had dropped the first two games in the series on Alumni Weekend.

"Good come-from-behind win," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "The guys are going to continue to fight and battle."

Utley launched a solo homer and smacked a two-run triple among his three hits to go with two runs scored for the Phillies, who trailed 6-1 heading into the seventh.

Juan Lagares cracked a two-run triple among his two hits to go with a run scored for New York, which took the first two games of this series. Lucas Duda and Travis d'Arnaud whacked solo homers in defeat.

The game was tied 1-1 before the Mets plated a run in the second, two in the third and two more in the fifth to surge ahead.

Daniel Murphy had a sacrifice fly in the second and Lagares' two-run triple in the third gave the Mets a 4-1 lead. Duda and d'Arnaud clubbed back- to-back homers to lead off the fifth and make it 6-1.

The Phillies trimmed the gap after pushing across two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
Domonic Brown laced a two-run, two-out double to right in the sixth and Utley cracked a two-run triple with two outs in the seventh to cut the deficit to 6-5. Howard, though, struck out with Utley at third to end the frame.

Earlier, David Wright's RBI single opened the scoring in the first before Utley's solo shot in the home half knotted the score.

Notes: New York announced Sunday that rookie pitcher Jacob deGrom will miss his next start due to right shoulder soreness ... The Phillies claimed pitcher Jerome Williams off waivers from the Texas Rangers on Sunday ... Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick surrendered six runs -- five earned -- on 10 hits and three walks over five frames, while Mets starter Zach Wheeler allowed three runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts over six frames.