The New York Mets (13-11) fell to the Philadelphia Phillies (13-11) 6-0 on Wednesday night at Citi Field. (Box score)
Pitching
Jason Vargas (1-1, 7.20 ERA) started his fourth game of the season looking to build off his encouraging, yet brief start against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 19.
The 36-year-old southpaw did not start things off smoothly as it took him 26 pitches to get through the first inning. In that inning, he gave up a run on back-to-back doubles, in addition to a walk. Including his one relief appearance, it was the fourth time this season that Vargas has allowed at least one run in the first inning in which he pitched.
Vargas settled down for the rest of his start as he retired 11 of his next 15 batters faced.
All told, Vargas went 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball. In 89 pitches he allowed three hits and two walks, while striking out four batters. Two of those strikeouts were of Bryce Harper.
Seth Lugo was called upon to get the final out of the fifth inning and did so by making Rhys Hoskins fly out to center with runners on first and second. Lugo stayed in for the sixth inning and worked around an error to keep the Phillies off the board.
Lugo also stayed in for the seventh where he retired his first two batters faced. He was then replaced with Daniel Zamora after J.T. Realmuto reached on a throwing error by Amed Rosario. Zamora finished off the inning by fanning Harper, who stuck out for the third time in the game.
Robert Gsellman pitched the eighth inning and did not fare well. He gave up a leadoff triple to Hoskins, an RBI single to Maikel Franco and a single to Cesar Hernandez before recording an out on a sacrifice bunt by Sean Rodriguez. He did not settle down after the out, as he continued his struggles by allowing back-to-back RBI singles. Gsellman stayed in the game and ended up getting back-to-back outs to bring an end to the inning.
Jacob Rhame came into the game in the ninth and had a rematch with Hoskins after the controversy of throwing at him on Tuesday. Hoskins got some revenge as he padded the Phillies’ lead with a two-run home run. The 26-year-old slugger admired the homer with a 34-second jog around the bases.
Rhame recovered to retire three of his next four batters faced to end the inning.
Offense
Despite coming into the game with the fourth-most runs scored in MLB, the Mets offense struggled mightily to get anything going in the game. Starter Vince Velasquez (1-0, 1.99 ERA) held the Mets to three hits and three walks over his five innings of work. The bullpen then combined for four shutout innings and held the Mets to an additional three hits.
The Mets were shutout for just the second time this season (the first being in their home opener on April 4).
The Mets put up six hits and three walks total. Robinson Cano had the best offensive performance as he went 3-for-3 with a walk. Luis Guillorme, Amed Rosario and Jeff McNeil were the only other Mets with hits.
On Deck
The Mets have an off day tomorrow before opening a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. The Mets have yet to officially announce a starter, but will likely send Jacob deGrom (2-2, 3.68 ERA) to the mound on Friday to face Chase Anderson (3-0, 3.00 ERA) and the Brew Crew, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EDT. The game can be viewed on SNY and heard on WCBS 880.
