The New York Mets were dominated by Cliff Lee from start to finish and fell to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1.
Lee pitched eight effective innings to pick up his sixth win of the season. He struck out 10 batters while allowing only one run on seven hits. His record now stands at 6-7 with an 3.27 ERA.
R.A. Dickey gets the loss, his sixth of the season, although he did reach the 200-strikeout milestone in the second inning. He allowed two earned runs on five hits, adding eight strikeouts in seven innings of work. His record now drops to 18-6 with a 2.67 ERA.
Jonathan Papelbon worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his 35th save of the season.
The Phillies got on the board in the top of the first inning without a hit. Jimmy Rollins struck out but reached first on a dropped third strike. He then advanced to second on a throwing error by R.A. Dickey and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Chase Utley. After one, Philadelphia led, 1-0.
Dickey pitched three scoreless innings following the first and wasn't tagged again until a Jimmy Rollins solo home run in the fifth inning. The Mets answered with a run by playing small ball in the bottom of the fifth. Mike Nickeas reached on a bunt single to lead off the inning, moved to second on a Dickey sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a fielder's choice and finally scored on a Daniel Murphy single to cut the Phillies lead in half, 2-1.
The Phillies scored again in the seventh on a Domonic Brown lead-off home run to take a 3-1 lead. Dickey worked out of the rest of inning but exited in the bottom of the seventh for a pinch hitter.
Mets relievers Robert Carson, Josh Edgin and Ramon Ramirez combined to work a scoreless eight and ninth innings, but Cliff Lee and Papelbon were too much for the New York offense as they could not surmount the two-run lead.
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