Sean Manaea turned in a terrific start and the offense came alive, with nine hits and five walks. And that turned into a 7-2 win over the Phillies and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. The Mets can clinch tomorrow with Jose Quintana taking the mound in another 5:08 p.m. start.
Pete Alonso gave the Mets the lead with a solo homer in the second inning and Jesse Winker doubled the advantage with a solo homer in the fourth. And then came the pivotal sixth inning.
The Phillies put two runners on base, both coming on walks, bringing up Bryce Harper. In Game 2, the Mets pitched around Harper and paid the price. This time, Manaea went right after him and struck him out on three pitches. The next batter lined into a double play and the Mets ended the top of the inning with their lead intact.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Mets loaded the bases but it looked bleak after a fielder’s choice out at the plate and a fly out to shallow left. But Starling Marte delivered a two-run single to double the lead and put the Mets in great shape.
Manaea had a quick inning in the top of the seventh and the Mets added two more in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a two-run hit by Jose Iglesias.
Carlos Mendoza sent Manaea back out for the eighth inning but pulled him after he allowed an infield hit. That runner came around to score, as part of a two-run inning for the Phillies. Manaea finished with 7 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB and 6 Ks. But that line doesn’t do justice to show how dominating he was. He made a lot of money during the regular season and it’s possible that Manaea drives his price up even more if there’s more playoff outings like this.
Francisco Lindor an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to push the lead back to five runs. Ryne Stanek, who cleaned up for Phil Maton in the top of the eighth, came back to finish the game in the ninth.
Iglesias and Mark Vientos each had two hits and every Mets starter reached base except Tyrone Taylor, who contributed by throwing out a runner trying to stretch a hit into a double.
The Mets were able to avoid using Jose Butto, Edwin Diaz and Reed Garrett – which should put them in excellent shape for Wednesday.
Hey
I was looking over ESPN’s pre-playoff predictions, and I realize the random chance involved, but my nearly 12 year old senior-citizen parakeet could make more accurate picks than the 27 schlubs from whom ESPN asked an opinion
For example, this is how these 27 “experts” viewed the likely outcome of NLCS
Philadelphia Phillies picked by 15
San Diego Padres 9
Los Angeles Dodgers 3
Well, since SDP has a jackboot in LAD right now in game 3 up 4-1 in the 2nd inning
And PheePhi is in serious trouble entering tomorrow’s game…
Have I mentioned how incredibly tired (to the point of violent eruptile regurgitation) I am of listening to the pointless inane chatter – with spasm of shrieking lunacy – from these announcers?