The Mets (17-22) opened up their home series against the Philadelphia Phillies (19-15) with a loss on Friday night, as Rick Porcello and the Mets’ bullpen could not control the hot Philly bats.
Porcello did pitch better than he had in his previous outings, going six innings and only allowing two earned runs, but the Mets bullpen could not hold the Phillies in the seventh and eighth, ultimately leading to their demise.
Michael Conforto kept his hot bat alive, homering to the opposite field for his seventh longball of the season. The team led the game in hits, racking up nine to the Phillies’ seven, but could not bring those runners around to score.
Philadelphia came into the night having won nine of their last 10 games, slingshotting themselves into second place in the division. This momentum continued into Friday’s game, as even without the presence of superstar Bryce Harper in the lineup, the Phil’s offense was productive.
Pitching
Porcello got his eighth start of the season on Friday night, as he looked to bring down his season ERA of 6.00 and grab his second win. Opposing batters had fared quite well against Porcello thus far, accumulating 44 hits over 33 innings. Porcello specifically had struggled the first time through the order, as opposing hitters were batting .417 the first time through.
His first inning went well. On the second pitch of the game, Andrew McCutchen grounded out to second. Rhys Hoskins followed with a strikeout on a 3-2 slider, and Didi Gregorius grounded out to end the frame.
The second inning is where Porcello began to slip. J.T. Realmuto started off with a flyout to center before Jean Segura worked a walk and stole second. Former Met Jay Bruce followed with a single into center field, scoring Segura and giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Rookie Alec Bohm poked a shallow pop-up into left center, which was picked off the ground by left fielder Jeff McNeil. Phil Gosselin worked the second walk of the inning before Porcello finally ended the frame on a two-seam that painted the inner black.
McCutchen led off the third with a single, and Hoskins blooped a ball into right, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Gregorius lined a ball over second base that scored McCutchen, but a baserunning misread enabled the Mets to get the force out at second. Realmuto flew out and Segura struck out to end the inning, but the Phillies extended their lead to 2-0, and Porcello upped his pitch count to 57 pitches over three frames.
Porcello, aligning himself with his statistics, settled down for the second time through the order, and began a series of three straight perfect frames starting in the fourth. He slotted two strikeouts in the fourth and one in the fifth before getting the middle of the Phillies’ order to go down on two flyouts and a groundout in the sixth.
Porcello was relieved in the seventh. He threw 100 pitches, 65 of which landed for strikes, gave up three hits, two earned runs, and picked up six strikeouts. He also walked two batters, bringing his season total to 10.
Right-hander Jared Hughes was the arm of choice for Luis Rojas in the seventh, and he started off strong, getting Bruce to ground out to first before striking out Bohm. Gosselin gave him some trouble, working a full count and then doubling down the left field line. Roman Quinn followed with a ground ball up the middle that deflected off the hand of Andres Gimenez, enabling Gosselin to score from second. Quinn then stole second and third base before McCutchen struck out swinging to end the inning.
Hughes continued into the eighth, walking Hoskins and giving up a single to Gregorius to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Realmuto then flew out, but Segura continued the rally with a ground ball to third base that J.D. Davis had to charge in on, making a somewhat wide throw that was out of the reach of first baseman Dominic Smith, scoring Hoskins and pushing the runners on base to second and third. Bruce got the free pass to first, and that was it for Hughes, as he was replaced by RHP Brad Brach.
Brach had been having a fantastic season, throwing for a 2.25 ERA over eight innings pitched. Bohm was Brach’s first victim, striking out swinging. Brach then got a bit wild, hitting Adam Haseley with a pitch that forced in the Phillies fifth run of the game. Brach settled back in though, striking out Quinn to end the inning.
Rojas kept Brach in during the top of the ninth, which proved to be a good move, as he struck out McCutchen before getting Hoskins and Gregorius pop and ground out, respectively.
Offense
After an unbelievable win on Thursday night versus the Yankees, the Mets’ offense looked to keep the momentum rolling versus the red-hot Phillies. On the mound for Philadelphia was Jake Arrieta, who had been less-than-average so far into the season, posting a 6.49 ERA through six starts coming into the day.
Arrieta, who had struggled to keep the ball over the plate early in counts, got ahead of Brandon Nimmo 0-2 before the Wyoming native poked the ball over the shortstop’s head for a base hit, putting his OPS over 1.000 on the season against right-handed pitchers. Arrieta lost control in his second at-bat, walking Conforto to put runners on first and second with no outs.
As quick as the rally fired up, however, it was dowsed. Davis went down looking on three pitches, Smith flew out to center, and Robinson Cano grounded out to second base, ending the early scoring threat.
Arrieta settled in during the second, getting Pete Alonso and McNeil to fly out before striking out Wilson Ramos swinging.
Andres Gimenez started off the third inning with a base hit into right field, but his threat was quickly neutralized after he was picked off first base for the second time this season. Arrieta’s control continued to plague him, as he threw the 2-2 pitch to Nimmo behind his back. Still, he got him to ground out to second before striking out Conforto swinging.
Davis got the ball rolling in the fourth, literally, as he grounded a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a base hit. The rolling ball did not go far, however, as Smith went down looking, Cano grounded into a fielder’s choice, and McNeil struck out.
The silent Mets’ offense came alive in the fifth. After Ramos grounded out to third base, Gimenez’s hot bat grounded a single to center. Two batters later, Conforto evened the score with a towering opposite field home run, his seventh on the season.
The sixth started off with a Smith single that was quickly proved useless as Cano grounded into a double play. Alonso hit a screaming ground ball to third base that was nabbed by Bohm, who made a clean throw to first base for the final out of the frame.
The Mets’ half of the seventh went by quick, as Arrieta finished his final inning strongly, getting McNeil to ground out, Ramos to strike out, and Gimenez to ground out to short.
Arrieta’s day came to a close after a dominant start, in which he went seven innings, gave up seven hits, two earned runs, walked one, and struck out seven.
Hector Neris replaced Arrieta in the eighth and started off by walking Nimmo. Conforto was called out on strikes, but Davis continued his productive night by singling to right field. Smith followed with a single to right field, scoring Nimmo and advancing Davis to second. Tommy Hunter replaced Neris midway through the eighth to face Cano. Cano put the barrel on the ball and hit a blazing line drive to first base that was picked out of the air by Hoskins. Alonso finished up the inning by working a 3-2 count before popping out into foul ground.
The Phillies sent right-hander Brandon Workman to the mound for the bottom of the ninth, and he fit his namesake as he immediately got to work. McNeil lined out to center field, bringing up pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme, taking the spot of Ramos, who struck out to bring up the Mets final hopes in birthday boy Gimenez.
Unfortunately, there was no birthday magic, and Gimenez grounded out to second to end the game.
On Deck
The Mets will continue their home series versus the Phillies on Saturday night, as Seth Lugo (1-2, 2.12 ERA) gets another shot as starter.
The Phillies will send rookie Spencer Howard (1-1, 5.40 ERA) to the mound for another shot against New York. Howard faced the Mets back on August 14 in Philadelphia, going 3.1 innings and giving up seven hits on three earned runs.
On Sunday, the Mets will send their ace to the mound for some day-game action, as Jacob deGrom (2-1, 1.76 ERA) will match up with Phillies ace Aaron Nola (4-2, 2.25 ERA) in a pitchers’ duel.
