Phillies stun Mets to take NL East lead

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Philadelphia Phillies rallied from seven runs down to beat the visiting New York Mets 8-7 and take top spot in the National League East on Tuesday.

Chris Coste drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 13th inning to move the Phillies a half-game ahead of the Mets in the division.

The victory highlighted the Mets' inability to finish teams off and marked the 22nd blown save of the season for the team's beleaguered bullpen.

"People are going to have to get people out," New York manager Jerry Manuel told reporters.

"We'll keep doing it until we find the right way. We can't get too down, we still have another game here and more than a month left to go in the season."

New York starter Pedro Martinez had a 7-0 lead to defend in the fourth inning but the Phillies chipped away, scoring four runs in the fifth to make it 7-5.

Philadelphia then scored runs in the eighth and ninth innings off the Mets bullpen to tie the game.

"It's frustrating, but with this team, in this stadium, you never know," Martinez said. "They never give up...."

Shane Victorino lined a triple down the right-field line leading off the 13th against Scott Schoeneweis (2-3). Jayson Werth and Eric Bruntlett were then intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs.

After Brett Myers struck out looking, Coste drove a pitch over the Mets' drawn-in outfield to end the game.

"We didn't quit and just kept coming after them," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "It was a heck of a ballgame."

Ryan Howard hit his NL-leading 35th homer of the season for the Phillies and Jimmy Rollins had five of the team's 19 hits.

Philadelphia won for the ninth time in 11 games.

(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto; Editing by Peter Rutherford)