Mets would prefer simply to receive contributions from their regular players. But with so many regulars injured, new faces have been contributing seemingly every night.
Two more fresh faces stepped up Tuesday after the Mets placed infielder Justin Turner on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle. Turner's replacement at shortstop, Omar Quintanilla, doubled twice and scored two runs to pace the offense in a 6-3 win over the Phillies, and pitcher Jeremy Hefner chipped in with a quality start and his first career home run.
Quintanilla, a journeyman who had been plugging away at Triple-A Buffalo, doubled and scored in the second and sixth innings. He will continue to start at shortstop at least until Ronny Cedeno is ready to return from a strained left calf, possibly as soon as Friday. Turner had been subbing for Cedeno, who had been subbing for starter Ruben Tejada, who is also on the DL.
Another sub of a sub, Hefner, hit his first career home run off Joe Blanton in the fourth inning. Coming off a poor outing that put his roster spot in jeopardy, Hefner gave up three runs over six innings in place of Miguel Batista, who strained his lower back after assuming Mike Pelfrey's rotation spot earlier this month.
Such injuries are nothing new for the Mets, who have played the bulk of this season without Tejada, Pelfrey, outfielder Jason Bay and catcher Josh Thole. All but Pelfrey are due back soon, giving the Mets hope that they may not have to rely on their backups for long.
Then again, they might be better off standing pat. The Mets are back to a season-high six games above .500 despite playing Tuesday with only four members of their projected Opening Day lineup in the starting nine.
Shane Victorino drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Philadelphia bailed out Lee to take two of three in the series. Ty Wigginton also homered for the Phillies, who improved to 3-6 against the Mets this season.
Lucas Duda went deep twice, including a two-run shot off Lee in the sixth that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Gee pitched 6 2-3 effective innings, but the New York bullpen was battered after he left — beginning with the two-run homer by Ruiz.
"Guys that pitched threw three nights in a row," Collins said. "Guys threw pitches they wish they could get back."
Rollins hit a long drive into the top deck in right off Ramon Ramirez in the ninth for his second homer of the season. Wigginton had an RBI double and Victorino a two-run single to cap a six-run inning that made it 10-3.
Wigginton, a former Met, finished the series with two homers and eight RBIs.
Juan Pierre singled off Jon Rauch (3-4) to open the eighth and went to third on Hunter Pence's single. One out later, Pierre scored with a headfirst slide on Victorino's liner to center.
"It's frustrating when you go out there and don't do your job," Rauch said.
Antonio Bastardo (2-1) and Jose Contreras each worked a scoreless inning after Lee was called back for Ruiz with Philadelphia trailing by two.
Lee entered with only eight walks in 51 innings this season, but issued a pair of free passes in the first. Daniel Murphy drew the first one and scored from first base on David Wright's double off the center-field fence, running through a late stop sign from third base coach Tim Teufel and barely beating the relay to the plate.
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