Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets (19-10) dropped the first game of their Mother’s Day doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies (12-15) on Sunday afternoon. In the first game since that historic ninth inning comeback on Thursday night, the Mets couldn’t pick up Max Scherzer, who suffered his first loss in his last 25 starts.

Scherzer certainly didn’t have his best stuff, but he also ran into some serious bad luck and did well to battle throughout the afternoon. He scattered 10 hits across six innings pitched, with many of those hits being soft contact that looped over the infield and found the outfield grass. In all, nine of the 10 hits were singles. The only extra base hit was Bryce Harper’s long home run in the first inning.

The Mets had just two hits through the first five innings against Kyle Gibson. He did an excellent job of keeping runners off the base paths and limiting hard contact.

That changed in the top of the sixth, when Starling Marte led off the inning with a double, his fifth consecutive plate appearance with a hit. Luis Guillorme singled to center field to move Marte to third, and Marte came around to score on a James McCann ground ball that resulted in a double play.

The inning didn’t end there as Brandon Nimmo followed up with his own single to center field. Francisco Lindor smoked a ball off the right field wall to plate Nimmo and cut the Phillies lead to just one. Unfortunately, Jeff McNeil struck out which stranded Lindor at second. The score remained 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Scherzer collected seven strikeouts and settled down towards the end of his outing. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth for his first and only 1-2-3 inning of the day. His season ERA sits at 2.92 through six starts (31 IP), and he has been exactly as advertised.

The Mets got another rally going in the top of the seventh off Seranthony Domínguez. Pete Alonso and Eduardo Escobar walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Domínguez eventually found the strike zone, striking out Dominic Smith, Marte, and Guillorme to end the threat.

Joely Rodríguez was brought in to pitch the bottom of the seventh inning, and he worked around a Kyle Schwarber single by striking out three. José Alvarado and Adam Ottavino then traded scoreless frames in the eighth inning, sending the game to the ninth with that same 3-2 scoreline.

The Mets were unable to get to Corey Knebel for the second straight game. The Phillies’ closer rebounded from his disastrous outing on Thursday to retire the side in order. The Phillies got three innings of hitless relief from their bullpen to close out the victory.

Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the Game: Brandon Nimmo

Nimmo reached base three times, and he kept the sixth inning rally alive by roping a single and scoring on Lindor’s double. Nimmo’s OBP this season is low by his standards, but his .382 mark is more than serviceable for the leadoff spot. He is a threat to reach base in just about every plate appearance.

Final line for Nimmo: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB

On Deck:

The Mets will wrap up their doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday afternoon as they look to win yet another series. First pitch is set for around 4:15 PM ET and will be broadcast on SNY.

The Mets will go with Chris Bassitt on the mound, while the Phillies will trot out Christopher Sánchez, having scratched Zack Eflin after he was placed on the COVID-19 IL earlier in the day.