Mejia's 3-run homer in 9th leads Rays past skidding Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Francisco Mejia hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the ninth inning, Brandon Lowe connected for his 30th of the season and the AL-East leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the slumping Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 on Wednesday night.

Rookie Wander Franco had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 26 straight games for the Rays, who have won eight of nine and upped their league-best record to 79-48. Tampa Bay moved 4 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Yankees in the division.

Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins homered for the Phillies, who have lost six of eight to fall five games behind the idle Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Philadelphia is 4-10 since winning eight in a row earlier this month.

Mejia broke a 4-4 tie with no outs in the ninth, driving an 0-2, 96-mph fastball from Zack Wheeler (10-9) into the second deck in right.

Collin McHugh (5-1) allowed the tying run in the eighth but pitched a scoreless ninth.

Wheeler looked like he was solidifying his NL Cy Young candidacy with eight strong innings until running into trouble in the ninth.

Yandy Díaz led off by just missing a homer but was held to a single by right fielder Harper when the ball bounced high off the wall. Kevin Kiermaier followed with an opposite-field liner down the left-field line that was ruled a double by third-base umpire Sean Barber, who had to jump out of the way of the ball. Phillies manager Joe Girardi came out to argue with plate umpire Dan Bellino that the ball was foul, but the call stood. Both scored on Mejia’s hit.

Wheeler exited after the homer without getting an out in the ninth. He allowed five earned runs on 10 hits and has a 6.53 ERA in his last three starts. He struck out 10 batters to exceed 200 Ks for the first time in his career, becoming the 14th Phillies pitcher to...

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