PHILADELPHIA -- Who could blame Mackey Sasser for playing against the Philadelphia Phillies despite a sprained ankle?
Sasser has missed time since suffering the sprain July 8 in a home plate collision, but played through the pain against the Phillies. He belted a career-high two homers, tied a career-high with four RBI and led the New York Mets to a 7-4 victory Tuesday night.
His 3-for-5 outing improved his seasons performance against the Phillies to 9-for-18.
'I was worried a little bit about my ankle but I tried not to let it bother me,' Sasser said. 'I just tried to do my job, and my job is to catch David Cone and hit the ball.'
Mets Manager Bud Harrleson said he put Sasser back in the lineup Wednesday to see how the ankle would hold up.
'I wanted to give him a test today and tomorrow and see what kind of reaction I got out of (his ankle),' Harrelson said. 'Obviously, I got a favorable reaction today.'
Sasser's second home run of the game, a two-run shot in the eighth inning, broke a 4-4 tie as the Mets rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win for the 24th time in their last 33 games.
Sasser homered off reliever Roger McDowell, 3-4, also scoring Howard Johnson, who had greeted McDowell with a two-run double. McDowell was traded from New York to the Phillies last season.
'The bullpen just didn't get it done tonight,' Phillies Manager Nick Leyva said. 'Roger made two bad pitches. He got the ball up to Sasser and he's a high-ball hitter.'
New York reliever Julio Machado, 3-1, who was recalled from the minors Sunday, went one inning and John Franco got the last six outs for his 22nd save.
New York struck for four runs in the eighth off Dennis Cook and McDowell. With one out, Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds singled to knock out Cook.
Johnson hit McDowell's first pitch to center to score two runs and Sasser hit a 2-0 pitch over the right-field fence for a 6-4 lead.
'It happened quickly,' McDowell said. 'I got the ball up to Johnson and then made a bad pitch to Sasser. It's a tough loss but I just have to put it aside. It hurts not getting the job done when we played so well.'
New York added another run off McDowell in the ninth when Dave Magadan doubled and scored on Gregg Jefferies' double.
Sasser hit his fourth home run of the season, also scoring Johnson, who had walked, to bring the Mets within 4-2 in the seventh off Phillies starter Pat Combs.
'I never think home run,' said Sasser, who said his ankle was still bothering him. 'I'm not a home run hitter. I hit line drives that get out of the park.'
Darren Daulton gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Cone, who had won three straight starts, with his fifth home run of the season.
Lenny Dykstra put Philadelphia ahead 2-0 in the third with his first career inside-the-park home run, which was his fifth homer of the season. Dykstra's shot went between right fielder Strawberry and center fielder Mark Carreon and rolled to the fence.
Carmelo Martinez put Philadelphia ahead 4-0 with a two-run homer in the sixth.
'It seemed like a game we were destined to win,' Philadelphia's Von Hayes said. 'We had a lot of things go our way. It's one of the toughest (losses) but we just have to put it behind us.'
The victory was especially satisfying for the Mets because they blew a 3-0 lead in losing to Philadelphia 7-4 Monday night.
'They came back on us last night and we knew we had to come out and play good ball,' Sasser said. 'They scored early but we scored late and we scored more runs so we won the game.'
