The Mets fell to the Philadelphia Phillies by score of 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.
Here are the key takeaways…
— In the bottom of the eighth, with the Mets trailing by a run, Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering walked the bases loaded. With one out, Ronny Mauricio popped out to second base for a huge second out, and Francisco Alvarez struck out on a high fastball to end the inning.
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Overall, the Mets went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.
— After Cionel Perez retired the side in order in the first, the Mets turned things over to Tobias Myers. The righty had a clean second inning, but allowed three runs on four hits in the third as the Phillies rallied to take a 3-0 lead. The Mets and interim manager Andy Green appear to be stretching Myers out to join the rotation full-time, but it came at the detriment of Myers, allowing three runs as he stayed in the game instead of Green going to a different reliever.
—Kodai Senga made his first career relief appearance as he took over in the fifth inning. He pitched a one-two-three inning, did a great job working out of a jam in the sixth (more on that below), but gave up the lead in the top of the seventh, throwing a very hittable fastball to Kyle Schwarber, who put it over the wall in right center for a two-run homer, putting the Phillies back in front, 5-4.
Senga ended up going 5.0 innings, really saving the rest of the Mets bullpen, allowing two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
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— The Mets put two men on with no outs in the fourth, but couldn’t do anything with it as the next three batters were retired. Facing the same situation in the fifth, the Mets were able to capitalize, as it was none other than rookie Carson Benge who came through with an RBI single to left to get the Mets on the board. Benge now has nine hits over his last eight games.
The Mets would go on to load the bases with one out, but couldn’t push another run across as Bo Bichette went down swinging and Eric Wagaman, hitting cleanup, flew out to shallow center.
— A potential turning point came in the sixth inning. An Alec Bohm walk and a Brandon Marsh double had runners at second and third and no outs, but Senga dug deep and retired the next three to get out of the jam without allowing a run. In the bottom half of the inning, Alvarez led off with a double to right, and A.J. Ewing came off the bench and delivered with a two-run homer to right field, his first career pinch-hit hit. After Jesus Luzardo allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings, right-hander Chase Shugart immediately coughed the lead up.
Later in the inning, it was, guess who, Benge, who came through with a fielder’s choice that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead, as Benge once again hit a ball hard off of left Kyle Backhus.
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Game MVP
Schwarber, whose 30th homer of the season gave the Phillies a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning.
Highlights
Next up
The Mets hit the road for three games in Toronto against the Blue Jays, starting on Monday night at 7:07 p.m. on SNY.
Sean Manaea is set to face off against Trey Yesavage.
Nolan McLean and Kevin Gausman will be the matchup in the second game of the series, before Fredy Peralta and Patrick Corbin start in the finale.
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