Jorge Lopez shut the door in the 10th inning and Jake Diekman got a strikeout with the tying run on third base as the Mets defeated the Phillies, 6-5, Thursday night in Philadelphia. The victory gave the Mets their first win in the finale of back-to-back, home-and-home, two-game series between NL East rivals.
After going scoreless in their half of the 10th, things looked bleak for the Mets. But Lopez came up big and kept the Phillies from scoring. Bryce Harper was intentionally walked and the move worked brilliantly, as the Mets got a double play, thanks to a nice turn by Jeff McNeil. Lopez ended the inning unscathed, as he got a fly out to left center.
In the 11th, J.D. Martinez hit a weak grounder thru the right side, scoring Francisco Lindor. Harrison Bader ripped a double putting two runners in scoring position. The Mets got their sixth run, with Martinez scoring on a wild pitch.
The Phillies had a bunch of lefty batters due up in their half of the 11th, so Diekman entered the game. But Diekman had trouble throwing strikes to the lefties. Philadelphia loaded the bases with one out and a fielder’s choice made it a one-run game. But Diekman struck out Kyle Schwarber to end the game.
Pete Alonso put the Mets on top in the first inning with a solo homer that was just crushed, as it had an exit velocity off 115.3 mph. A Brett Baty RBI double in the second inning made it 2-0.
Jose Quintana gave a solid start, cruising thru five innings before getting knocked out with one out in the sixth. It doesn’t sound like much but given what he’s done lately, it was a big step in the right direction. Reed Garrett allowed two inherited runners to score and it was a tie game.
Garrett gave up a run in the seventh to give the Phillies the lead. But the Mets went back ahead in the eighth, with a two-run inning, highlighted by an RBI from Bader.
But for the second straight outing, Edwin Diaz blew a save. But this time he only allowed the tying run to score, allowing the Mets to stage their late-game heroics.
That wild pitch and sequence that Diaz had in the ninth gave me deja vu of 2019 again..
Win. They’ll take it. As Gus noted, it looks like we’ve got the 2019 Diaz instead of the 2022 Diaz. That could kill playoff contention if it doesn’t change course.
Happy to take the win but for the second time this series we expected Diaz to shut the door not and he failed to do so. This is where Jeremy Hefner has to earn his pay. Taylor, Lindor, Vientos, McNeil and Narvaez were all without hits which is just unacceptable. Much maligned Bader came through big first entering at the end of the game. If they are going to make any kind of run it would be now against the Marlins, the Guardians who have cooled off since their torrid start, and the under .500 Giants because the Dodgers loom in the not so distant future. With all the bitching we all do they are 20-23. Would we complain less if they were 23-20 – probably, as at least they would be above that magic .500 level where a 7-8 game winning streak greatly increases their post season chances. Yes, it’s way too early to even worry about that, and we should be slightly comforted that several players have simply not been playing anywhere up to the back of their baseball cards. Bring on the Fish!
We bitch because we watch them walk the ballpark, fail to execute fundamentals, and can’t hold a lead. Their (lack of) offensive production isn’t something they can help, but those three other things – especially the first two – they can do something about.
Read this in the NYPost. Figure those of you that saw the game know this:
“SteveGelbs reports on a postgame clubhouse meeting between Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo & Starling Marte about making sure they turn around the season sooner opposed to what happened in 2023.”
There is at least one name conspicuously missing from that core of leadership.