If you watched yesterday’s game, today’s game was pretty much the same game again, as the Mets fell to the Phillies 6-2 to lose the series in Philadelphia. Sure, the score was not quite as lopsided. But the story of the game was much the same, even down to the solo home run by Carson Benge. A potent Phillies lineup feasted on the Mets’ starter early, the Mets played poor defense, and the Phillies sent an ace-level pitcher to the mound able to cruise through the game and throw strikes, given more than enough cushion to work with.
After Zack Wheeler struck out the first two batters he faced, Juan Soto worked a nice at-bat, as is his wont, and made a bid for the Mets’ first hit, but Bryson Stott made an excellent diving play to deny him. The Mets’ defense did not do David Peterson the same favor in the bottom of the frame, but he didn’t do himself any favors either by walking back-to-back hitters to lead off the game. Bryce Harper then helped Peterson out by waving at ball four to strike out, but Alec Bohm then hit a slow bouncer to third base on which Brett Baty tried to make a leaping throw to first base, but threw it errantly, plating Trea Turner for the game’s first run. Edmundo Sosa then rolled a slow grounder to short, which he beat out for a hit to score Kyle Schwarber and give the Phillies a quick 2-0 lead. Peterson managed to navigate out of the rest of the inning without further damage, striking out Brandon Marsh and getting J.T. Realmuto to line out to first to end the inning. But, fear not, reader. Further damage will come.
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The Mets made their best attempt at punching back in the top of the second when Jared Young and A.J. Ewing led off the inning with back-to-back singles. But Wheeler made quick work of Marcus Semien, Brett Baty, and Francisco Alvarez in order to quash the rally before you could even rub two sticks together to begin to kindle some hope. With one out in the bottom of the frame, Peterson gave up back-to-back base hits to Bryson Stott and Trea Turner. Kyle Schwarber strolled to the plate and friends, we’ve seen this movie before. You don’t have to have watched the game to know what happened next. He launched one into orbit, of course, to extend the Phillies’ lead to 5-0. And for the second consecutive night, the game felt over already with questions of who the Mets would even send out to the mound to finish this nightmare.
With a safe five-run lead to work with, Wheeler was able to fill the strike zone, but Carson Benge denied Wheeler and the Phillies the shutout with a solo homer with one out in the third to put the Mets on the board. The Mets may have gotten something cooking in that inning, as Soto laced a two-out single, but he tried to stretch it into a double and was thrown out by a mile, adding “incredibly embarrassing base running gaff” to the Mets’ growing list of indignities aired on national television for everyone to see.
As for who the Mets would send out to the mound to finish this nightmare, the answer turned out to be Austin Warren, who was greeted in the fifth with a solo homer by Bryce Harper to bring the Phillies’ lead back up to five runs. The Mets didn’t build any semblance of a rally until the sixth when Wheeler, pitch count crossing into triple digits, began to show signs of fatigue and walked the bases loaded with one out. Don Mattingly came out to the mound, but opted to leave Wheeler in for one more batter. A.J. Ewing hit it sharply, but on the ground to first, which scored Carson Benge from first base to bring the Mets within four. Jared Young was thrown out at second, but the Phillies were unable to turn two, prolonging the inning. Mattingly then finally made the pitching change, bringing in righty specialist Jonathan Bowlan, who promptly struck out Marcus Semien to keep the Mets from clawing their way back into the game.
José Alvarado worked around a two-out single by Luis Torrens to pitch a scoreless seventh inning. After Warren gave the Mets two innings of work, Brooks Raley came in to face the lefties at the top of the order in the bottom of the seventh and was able to navigate around a single by Bryce Harper and a hit by pitch to log a scoreless frame. Unfortunately that hit by pitch did end Edmundo Sosa’s night, as he was pinch run for after being plunked in the elbow area and went into the dugout to get some ice on what will surely be quite the shiner tomorrow morning, but hopefully nothing more severe. Orion Kerkering made quick work of the Mets in the eighth, needing just 11 pitches to complete a 1-2-3 inning and A.J. Minter similarly dispatched the Phillies in just nine pitches in the bottom of the inning. Despite throwing last night to get work in after not throwing for a week, Jhoan Duran was asked to finish the game for the Phillies in a non-save situation. He gave up a leadoff hit to A.J. Ewing, but then struck out the next three batters he faced to slam the door.
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After awhile, one simply runs out of words to write about this team that haven’t already been written. Every time they build some semblance of momentum that makes you think maybe, just maybe, they have a miracle in them, they use the platform provided by the national stage to remind us all exactly who they are.
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Win Probability Added
What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Jared Young, +6% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -27% WPA
Mets pitchers: -27% WPA
Mets hitters: -23% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: A.J. Ewing’s leadoff single in the top of the second inning, +6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Kyle Schwarber’s three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning, -14% WPA
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