Holiday a hollow day as Mets lose game, Turner

The Mets lost their shortstop to injury Monday -- their third-string shortstop, Justin Turner -- and were forced to use David Wright at the position for six innings.

But still they battled the Phillies, twice coming back from two-run deficits against Cole Hamels. In the end, though, the Phillies beat the Mets, 8-4, at Citi Field.

Former Met Ty Wigginton drove in six runs. He had a three-run homer, a two-run double and the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning.

Hamels, who pitched eight innings, improved to 8-1 despite giving up two-run home runs to Vinny Rottino and Scott Hairston as the Mets began a stretch of 25 straight games against teams above .500.

"Just not quite enough," said Wright, whose only other appearance at shortstop was last Aug. 7 when both Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy were injured against Atlanta.

Wright was in the middle of a key play as the Phillies took the lead for good in the seventh inning of a 4-4 game. Jimmy Rollins singled to open the inning and was on the move on a 2-and-1 pitch to Placido Polanco, who topped one back to Bobby Parnell.

Parnell turned to throw to second, where Wright was covering. Wright was pointing for Parnell to throw to first. He didn't.

Parnell threw to Wright, who was standing in front of the bag. Rollins slid in safely as Wright fired to first to complete the 1-6-3 groundout.

Had Wright been an experienced shortstop, he might have been able to stay on the bag to get the out and perhaps start a double play. Or he could have stretched like a first baseman to get Rollins. He did neither.

"I wasn't trying to get [Rollins]," Wright said. "It was a hit-and-run, so as soon as the ball was hit, we were yelling to first, and Bobby just instinctively turned to throw to second. So I just cut it off."

After Hunter Pence walked and Shane Victorino flew out, Parnell faced Wigginton, a known fastball-masher who hit a two-run double off Jon Niese in the third inning for the game's first runs.

Parnell threw six straight fastballs: 98, 97, 97, 96, 98 and 100. Wigginton lined the final one into centerfield for the go-ahead single.

Niese gave up four runs and only two hits in five-plus innings, striking out seven. He was done in by five walks and a two-run homer by John Mayberry Jr. in the sixth that gave the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

But the Mets, who had tied the score at 2 in the fifth on Rottino's two-run homer, tied it again in the sixth on Hairston's two-run blast.

Rottino, who started in leftfield, moved to third when Wright replaced Turner at short. Turner was filling in for Ronny Cedeño, who had been filling in for Ruben Tejada.

Turner was injured while heading back to first during a rundown after singling to right in the third inning. Rob Johnson, who had been on second, steamed around third base before being held up by third-base coach Tim Teufel. Turner kept going toward second, however, and was trapped in a rundown. He was injured just after being tagged out by Rollins and hitting the bag. He went down in a heap of pain and had to be helped off the field with what the Mets called a sprained right ankle. X-rays were negative.

Wigginton hit a three-run home run in the ninth off Manny Acosta (11.86 ERA) to send much of the Memorial Day crowd of 32,122 home frowning.

"For the most part, we've been playing good baseball," Wright said. "They outplayed us today. They just had a little more firepower. Wiggy looked pretty locked in. It's one of those where they just came out and got better pitching and the bats were a little hotter than us today."