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PHILADELPHIA – As dramatic as the fall of Michael Conforto was in the first half of the season, his rise in the second was even more pronounced.
The Mets player has regained his All-Star form over the last few weeks, with his best work scheduled for Monday night when he raced six times in his Phillies' 9-4 win at Citizens Bank Park .
Conforto crowned his night with a three-run homer in the ninth game, which allowed the Mets to get out of trouble in their two-game loss. The circuit was 15th of Conforto since the All-Star break and gave him 26 for the season. Such a total seemed unlikely at the start of the season, as Conforto struggled to return from surgery last September to repair the posterior capsule of his left shoulder.
Conforto gave the RBI a double in the seventh, which gave Zack Wheeler the support he needed to win.
Wheeler (12-7) defeated a sluggish fifth inning with four points (two batters contributed to the Phillies rally) to a career-high victory. His previous record was 11 in 2014, when he had a career high of 185¹ / high, before missing the next two seasons after being operated by Tommy John.
When he returned last year, he pitched 86¹ / before before he was stopped by a stress reaction in his right arm. This season, he has launched 182 runs and his workload will be monitored during his last two starts, according to manager Mickey Callaway.
"He's obviously had a great season and he's in a very good position right now, and we'll probably be very careful with him," Callaway said.
Wheeler's four rounds on Monday were the most contested since July 14. Since then, he has reached the lowest score in the major leagues at 1.32 ERA since the All-Star game.
But Wheeler saw his chance at another gem unfold in the fifth, when J. Crawford delivered a triple loaded base.
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