PHILADELPHIA — Chris Young wasn’t in the mood to make any excuses shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday.
“It was just a flub up,” Young said after dropping a fly ball in the 14th inning that sent the Mets to a 6-5 loss to the Phillies. “It’s like I’m looking dead at it, the ball is coming down and I just completely lost it. I got a little blurry and it’s like I didn’t even see it.”
Marlon Byrd reached second base on Young’s drop in right field, and with the bases loaded Reid Brignac ended the 5 hour, 23 minute marathon with an RBI single against Jenrry Mejia.
The Mets (25-29) left 12 runners on base in watching their three-game winning streak vanish.
Manager Terry Collins summoned Mejia, his last reliever, for the 14th and intended to use the right-hander for either 25 pitches or two innings, maximum. Catcher Anthony Recker would have entered to pitch if the game went beyond that point.
Young entered the game as part of a double switch in the seventh and finished 0-for-2, dropping his average to .202. He had switched from left field to right field in the ninth inning.
“You feel terrible for anybody, I don’t care if you’re hitting .400,” Collins said. “You drop a fly ball that costs your team that has played so hard for five hours, you feel terrible for him.”
Young took the full blame.
“I have no idea how I lost a routine fly ball,” he said. “But for whatever reason it happened and it [stinks] for all the pitchers out their busting their butt to give us a chance to win the ballgame.”
The Mets had several opportunities to go ahead before the 14th, but failed.
Juan Lagares struck out against Jonathan Papelbon to kill the Mets’ chances in the 10th inning, after Travis d’Arnaud and Ruben Tejada had singled in succession with one out. Papelbon then retired Young and struck out Lagares.
The Mets also had chances to go ahead in the eighth and ninth. In the ninth, Bobby Abreu struck out against Mike Adams with the bases loaded to end the threat. Adams retired David Wright with runners on first and second for the second out before Eric Campbell walked to load the bases.
Abreu was left stranded an inning earlier after he singled leading off and swiped second for his 400th career stolen base. Lucas Duda struck out, failing to advance the runner before d’Arnaud and Tejada were retired.
A.J. Burnett appeared destined for a short night but somehow managed to last seven innings, in which he allowed five runs on five hits with six walks and 11 strikeouts. The veteran right-hander struck out the side in the sixth and retired the final seven batters he faced.
Rafael Montero, in his first career road start, lasted just 3 ²/₃ innings and surrendered four runs, three earned, on seven hits with two walks. The rookie was removed after 80 pitches with the Mets trailing 4-3.
Carlos Ruiz’s double in the fifth against Daisuke Matsuzaka led to the Phillies tying the game at 5-5 on Domonic Brown’s RBI ground out.
Abreu smashed a two-run double in the fifth to put the Mets back in the lead at 5-4. Burnett had struck out Wright and Curtis Granderson consecutively after Lagares’ single and Daniel Murphy’s walk, but Abreu delivered to save the inning.
Montero was chased in the fourth after surrendering a three-run homer to Brown and later in the inning walking Jimmy Rollins. Montero walked Byrd leading off the inning and Brignac singled before Brown cleared the right-field fence to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead.
Burnett singled leading off the third and scored the Phillies’ first run on Chase Utley’s RBI ground out. The run was unearned after Abreu committed an error on Rollins’ single, allowing Burnett to reach third.
Tejada’s RBI single in the second gave the Mets a 3-0 lead after Duda received the green light and delivered. Ahead 3-0 in the count, Duda pounced and hammered a two-run double to right that gave the Mets their first runs.