Mets Drop Nightcap To Phillies With Messy 4-1 Loss

The Mets (78-44) wriggled their way out of some jams Saturday night, but they struggled to overcome a lack of offense and an uneven performance in the field. They fell 4-1, dropping the nightcap of their doubleheader with the Phillies (66-54) after taking the first two games of the series at Citizens Bank Park. David Peterson and the bullpen dealt with traffic all night, and they did a solid job keeping it close, but the bats couldn’t rally back.

Phillies lefty Bailey Falter was shaky out of the gate, but the Mets could only scratch out one run against him in the first inning. Starling Marte reached on yet another hit by pitch, but he was nabbed by J.T. Realmuto trying to steal second. After Francisco Lindor‘s two-out single, Pete Alonso and Darin Ruf drew walks to load the bases. The lone run scored on a wild pitch. Nick Castellanos robbed Jeff McNeil of a hit to prevent further damage.

The Phillies didn’t take long to tie things up. On the second pitch Peterson threw, Kyle Schwarber smacked a double. Realmuto brought him in with a two-out single, knotting the score at one apiece. Peterson, who was topping out at 96 mph, struck out two batters with his high-80s slider.

The next threat came in the third, when Peterson gave up a single to Nick Maton and issued his first walk to Schwarber. He utilized his slider once again to strike out Rhys Hoskins for the first out. But he wasn’t so successful against Alec Bohm, who lined a slider just inside the left field foul line for a two-run double to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead.

Falter settled in against the Mets, retiring 10 in a row with only one strikeout.

Peterson continued to work around baserunners, allowing back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fourth. After a sacrifice bunt, he was able to stay composed and induce soft contact from Maton and Schwarber, which held the Mets’ deficit at two.

Mark Canha led off the fifth inning with a single, looking to get something going. With two outs, Brandon Nimmo was hit for the Mets’ second hit batsman of the game. That gives the Mets 81 on the year, a pace of more than one every other game. Marte struck out as the Mets couldn’t cash in.

Hoskins hit a leadoff double against Peterson in the fifth, putting him in another tight spot. He recorded his fifth and sixth strikeouts, but a Castellanos infield hit kept the inning alive. After walking Jean Segura to load the bases, Peterson’s night came to an end with 100 pitches thrown.

Fellow University of Oregon alum Stephen Nogosek relieved Peterson and struck out Matt Vierling to escape the bases-loaded jam.

Nogosek retired the first two batters in the sixth and appeared to be cruising. He struck out Schwarber, but the ball got by James McCann to keep the inning going. After Hoskins walked, Bohm hit a soft ground ball that Brett Baty dropped for an error.

Once again, Nogosek found himself in a bases-loaded situation that was not entirely his doing. Realmuto put up a tough fight, then flicked one to right field that McNeil leaped and caught in full extension. He had to collect himself for a few seconds before getting off the ground, while Nogosek applauded in appreciation.

Left-hander Rob Zastryzny made his Mets debut in the seventh. He worked around a hit to throw a scoreless inning. Despite the Phillies outhitting the Mets 9-2, they still led by just a two-run margin.

Nimmo drew a walk in the eighth, as he continues to work out of a rare on-base slump. David Robertson got through the inning with a strikeout of Marte and pop outs from McCann and Lindor.

Zastryzny stayed in for the bottom of the eighth. Schwarber led off with a hit the other way, and Canha played it clumsily, which allowed Schwarber to go all the way to third. Mychal Givens came in and surrendered a run-scoring single to make it 4-1. It was the first run scored for either team since the third inning.

Darin Ruf nearly homered against Robertson in the ninth, but it missed the foul pole by inches and he struck out for the second out. McNeil kept things alive with a double down the right field line, and Canha drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Baty chopped one to third base for the final out of the night. The Mets recorded just three hits in the loss.

Player of the Game

There wasn’t a ton for the Mets to celebrate in this game, particularly on the offensive side. McNeil, however, had the only extra-base hit, and also made the tremendous sixth-inning catch to keep the game close, so we’ll go with him. He’s been hot, now hitting .318 with an .829 OPS on the year.

On Deck

The Mets will wrap up their four-game set with the Phillies Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET. José Butto will be making his major league debut on the mound for New York. They’ll look to take three out of four over Philadelphia.