Bryce Harper homered and drove in two runs while Didi Gregorius homered and tripled as the host Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Mets 4-2 on Friday to move into first place in the National League East.

The red hot Phillies won their sixth in a row and have picked up five games on the Mets in the past seven days.

The Phillies played without their top two home run hitters. Rhys Hoskins (20 homers), who aggravated his groin injury in Thursday's 7-5 road win against the Washington Nationals, rested and Andrew McCutchen (team-high 24 home runs) remains on the injured list with knee soreness.

Phillies starter Kyle Gibson (8-3) tossed six solid innings and gave up four hits and one run with four walks and three strikeouts.

Ian Kennedy earned his 17th save in 18 opportunities despite allowing one run in the ninth inning. Gibson and Kennedy were acquired shortly before the trade deadline from the Texas Rangers.

The struggling Mets, who entered having lost three of four to the Miami Marlins, managed only five hits and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Jonathan Villar hit a solo home run, his 11th, to open the ninth.

Mets starter Marcus Stroman allowed five hits and two runs in five innings. Stroman (7-11) struck out five and walked one on 91 pitches. He fell to 1-7 since June 17.

The Phillies jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Gregorius ripped a solo homer with one out in the second inning.

Gibson walked two batters in the third and Dominic Smith came up with runners on first and second with two outs and hit an RBI single to tie the game at 1.

The Mets loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, but Stroman struck out and Brandon Nimmo grounded into a double play.

In the fifth, Gibson hit a single for his first career RBI and the Phillies went ahead 2-1.

The Phillies committed three errors, two by Alec Bohm, through the first seven innings, but managed to hold a one-run advantage.

New York went down in order in the eighth against Archie Bradley.

Jean Segura opened the bottom of the eighth with a sharply hit infield single. Harper followed with a long two-run homer, his 19th, to center for a 4-1 lead.

--Field Level Media