The New York Mets won the first game of a three-game road series in Philadelphia in Citizens Bank Park against the Phillies by a score of 5-2 on Friday evening. This was the team's first win since they defeated the Washington Nationals on Monday. The Mets' R.A. Dickey got the win, his second of the season. He went seven innings, allowing nine hits and only one earned run and struck out seven for an ERA of 2.08. The Phillies' Cliff Lee got the loss. He also went seven innings but allowed five hits and four earned runs, two of which were home runs, for a 3.46 ERA.
The Mets got off to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Daniel Murphy doubled to right field, scoring Ruben Tejada. Jason Bay then hit a home run over the wall in right center, which knocked in Tejada. The Phillies got on the board in the bottom of the third when Freddy Galvis hit a home run to bring the score to 3-1. The Mets extended their lead in the top of the fifth as Scott Hairston hit a homer over the left-field wall. Then in the top of the ninth, Lucas Duda hit a sacrifice fly, which was deep enough to score Justin Turner, to give the Mets their fifth and final run. The Phillies added the game's final run in the bottom of the ninth when Carlos Ruiz was able to cross home plate thanks to a fielding error by second baseman Murphy.
The Mets will look to avoid doing what they did in their last series, which was win the first game and then lose the last two as the Phillies will be looking to even things up on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. (ET) to force the rubber match on Sunday.
For more on the Mets, head to Amazin' Avenue, for more on the Phillies, head to The Good Phight, and for more on the series, follow SB Nation New York's StoryStream.