Phillies defeat Mets on Jay Bruce’s walk-off double in 10th inning

Gabe Kapler began his morning on Wednesday by firing a text message to Jay Bruce, the veteran Phillies left-handed hitter who was thrust into an everyday role after being acquired more as a reserve. The Phillies were facing a left-handed pitcher in the evening, prompting Kapler to ask Bruce whether he would like the night off.

“I thought maybe it might be a good time to get him off his feet,” Kapler said after a 5-4 win over the Mets.

Bruce declined, telling Kapler he thought he gave the Phillies their best chance to win. So Kapler penciled Bruce into the lineup, and his 10th-inning double produced the Phillies’ third straight win and first walk-off victory of the season.

His teammates mobbed Bruce after he rounded second base. Roman Quinn, who ran for Rhys Hoskins after Hoskins started the inning with a walk, scored easily. J.T. Realmuto followed Hoskins with a single and leaped into the air to celebrate with Bruce. Edgar Garcia, the rookie reliever who earned the win with a perfect 10th, doused Bruce with water.

Bruce made the right decision.

“And as he was coming off the field right there, he said, ‘I told you,’ ” Kapler said. “I believe him.”

The Phillies were another win removed from their seven-game losing streak and the misery of earlier this month, when they won just six of 22 games.

Credit the bamboo, which has brought the Phillies three wins since Brad Miller bought it in Chinatown. Credit Mets manager Mickey Callaway, who removed lefthander Jason Vargas despite the fact that he was puzzling the Phils and had thrown just 77 pitches. And credit Bruce, who could have enjoyed a break but instead pushed his way into the lineup and was at the plate with the game on the line.

“I just told him that I’ve been feeling good, and I felt like I was one of the best eight to go out there and give us a chance to win,” Bruce said. “And that’s not taking anything away from anyone else, for sure. But I feel I am in a pretty good spot. So, I was just honest with him.”

The Phillies, for the third straight night, overcame a subpar effort from their starting pitcher. Nick Pivetta allowed four runs before being lifted with two outs in the fifth. Pivetta threw 41 four-seam fastballs, but both swinging strikes on the pitch came by opposing pitcher Jason Vargas. Pivetta had a 1.80 ERA in his first three starts after returning from triple A but has a 7.13 ERA in his last three starts.

But the bullpen combined for 13 scoreless outs. And the offense brightened at the sight of Vargas exiting in the seventh inning. Five batters later, the game was tied, and the Phillies were on their way to just their third win in 33 tries this season when trailing after six innings.

Hernandez greeted Mets reliever Seth Lugo with an RBI double. Miller kept the rally alive with a two-out walk, and Scott Kingery reached first base after what would have been an inning-ending strikeout bounced away from Mets catcher Tomas Nido. With the inning still going, Segura dropped a two-run double into right-center, and Miller slid across home with the tying run.

Before the game, Kapler crossed paths in the team’s kitchen with Jimmy Rollins, who was at the ballpark this week to broadcast the first three games of the series.

The franchise’s all-time hits leader and catalyst of their last World Championship squad told Kapler how he admired this group’s fight. He told Kapler that he could notice from the broadcast booth that the Phillies were playing hard and never seemed like a team that thought it was out of it. Rollins saw that again on Wednesday, as a three-run deficit in the seventh inning proved to be an easy task for the Phillies. He watched the player who could have sat on the bench but chose to keep fighting.

“We set out to win this series. We were able to do that tonight,” Kapler said. “I think that speaks to the resilient nature of this club.”