Fans who root for the teams in blue and orange on both the baseball diamond and basketball court had themselves quite a Thursday.
A few hours after the Knicks’ first NBA title in 53 years was celebrated with a parade up the Canyon of Heroes, the Mets beat the rival Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 in their first matchup of the year.
Eric Wagaman, pinch-hitting for A.J. Ewing in the seventh inning, delivered a go-ahead single against, fittingly, José Alvarado, the Phillies reliever who had a much worse day than the point guard on the Knicks. One batter later, Marcus Semien hit a two-RBI triple off the wall to give the Mets two insurance runs they would sorely need.
The Mets jumped ahead in their first turn at bat on a solo homer by Juan Soto, his first of two on the day, and an RBI double by Ewing.
In another encouraging sign, Sean Manaea continued his rejuvenation. The lefty went 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Manaea hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in his last seven outings as either a starter or bulk reliever.
The Mets bullpen combination of Huascar Brazobán, A.J. Minter and Luke Weaver held the Phillies hitless and scoreless. Devin Williams made things interesting in the ninth by giving up a run on a walk and two singles before getting Kyle Schwarber to line out for the save.
New York had 11 hits on the night, including three by Carson Benge and two apiece by Soto, Ewing, and Semien.
At 34-41, the Mets are now six games behind the second-place Phillies and 13 games back of the division-leading Braves.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Soto hit his 16th and 17th homers in back-to-back at-bats, while also drawing a walk. He made a terrific sliding catch in left field to save a run, which Ron Darling called “the best play Soto has made in a Mets uniform.” He’s now slashing .300/.398/.582.
UP NEXT
The Mets and Phillies are off Friday due to the World Cup game being played in the same complex. They will resume the three-game series on Saturday with Freddy Peralta (5–5, 3.90 ERA) against lefty Cristopher Sánchez (8–3, 1.82 ERA). Game time is 7:15 pm ET on FOX.
