The Mets and Phillies opened their weekend series with a double-header on Friday night at Citi Field. Game one featured right-handed pitcher Aaron Nola for the Phillies versus right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker for the Mets. Heading into Friday night’s matchup, Nola was 5-4 with a 4.12 ERA. Walker was 6-3 with a 2.42 ERA.
It was a pitcher’s dual through five innings, but late-inning heroics by the Mets were the decisive factor of game one as the Mets claimed the walk-off win, 2-1 over the Phillies in game one of the doubleheader.
Walker came out in the top half of the first for the Mets and threw a routine one, two, three inning retiring the Phillies in order with a bunt ground out of Odubel Herrera, a strikeout of Rhys Hoskins, and a fly out of Bryce Harper to end the inning.
The Mets put runners on to start the bottom half of the first against Nola. Nola opened the inning hitting Jeff McNeil and then gave up a double to Francisco Lindor to put runners on second and third with no outs. However, the Mets would not be able to answer as Nola settled in with three strikeouts in a row of Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso, and Dominic Smith to end the inning.
Walker continued to look strong in the second. He popped out J.T. Realmuto, struck out Alec Bohm, and forced Travis Jankowski to fly out to end the top half of the second.
Nola continued to look very strong in the bottom of the second as he retired the Mets in order with three straight strikeouts of James McCann, Kevin Pillar, and Luis Guillorme to end the inning. That brought Nola’s strikeout count to six strikeouts through just two innings of work.
Walker looked solid again in the third. He struck out Ronald Torreyes to open the inning and grounded out Nick Maton before giving up a two-out single to Nola, who started his day at the plate as strong as he was starting it on the mound. Walker got out of the inning with a strikeout of Herrera. Walker had four strikeouts through three innings of work as the pitchers dual continued at Citi Field.
The Mets once again went down very quiet in the bottom half of the third as Nola continued to look very impressive. He struck out Walker, McNeil, and Lindor to end the inning and bring his strikeout count to nine strikeouts through just three innings of work.
Walker came back out in the top of the fourth and continued to pitch well. A ground-out of Hoskins and strikeout of Harper got two quick outs for the Mets before Walker gave up a two-out single to Realmuto. No damage was done, however, as Walker grounded out Bohm to end the inning. He had five strikeouts through four innings of work.
The Mets showed signs of life in the bottom half of the fourth. After Michael Conforto struck out to open the inning, Alonso continued his hot-streak since returning from the injured list with a double to right field to get the Mets started. Smith grounded out to advance Alonso to third, but a strikeout of McCann ended the inning as the Mets continued to struggle to figure out Nola, who’s strikeout count was 11 through four innings of work.
The scoreless tie ended in the fifth inning as the Phillies opened the scoring. Walker started the inning off well with a lineout of Jankowski and groundout of Torreyes before walking Maton to put a runner on. But it was Nola with an RBI double that scored Maton to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead over the Mets. Maton was 2-2 with a single and RBI double as he showed that Shohei Ohtani isn’t the only pitcher who can produce at the plate. An impressive day for Maton continued on the field and at-bat.
After a mound visit Walker got out of trouble with a fly out of Herrera. But not before the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth.
The Mets looked to answer in the bottom half of the fifth, but Nola continued to stay strong. Pillar reached on a fielding error by Bohm to open the fifth, but a groundout of Guillorme, lineout to Billy McKinney (pinch-hitting for Walker) and a strikeout of McNeil got Nola out of the inning. His strikeout of McNeil was his twelfth (12) strikeout of the afternoon.
Walker’s day was done after the fifth inning as Miguel Castro replaced Walker on the mound for the Mets in the top of the sixth. Walker was in line to be credited with the loss unless the Mets could come back to tie or win the game.
Taijuan Walker’s final line:
5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 2.38 ERA
Castro was looking to have a better outing than his last one and redeem himself a bit. He had a strong first inning of relief. He flew out Hoskins and struck out Harper before giving up a two-out walk to Realmuto. A ground out of Bohm ended the inning to keep the Phillies from extending their score as Castro kept the Mets in the game.
The Mets had failed to produce offensively through the first five innings, accumulating just two hits. With just a seven-inning game due to the doubleheader, the Mets needed to get started offensively in the sixth. The inning started well for the ‘Amazins with a little help from the Nola who showed his first signs of struggle. He hit Francisco Lindor to put the lead-off runner on and then forced Conforto into a ground out that moved Lindor to second. Alonso followed Conforto and was walked by Nola to put runners on first and second with one out.
That would end Nola’s day as Joe Girardi went to his bullpen and replaced Nola with Jose Alvarado on the mound for the Phillies with runners on first and second, Lindor representing the tying run.
Nola looked very impressive Friday afternoon for the Phillies. He struck out 12 and walked just one, giving up just two hits over 5.1 innings of work and 99 pitches thrown.
Alvarado walked the first batter he faced, Dominic Smith to load the bases with James McCann coming to bat with just one out in the bottom half of the sixth. Alvarado got the second out of the inning with a strikeout of McCann, a big strikeout and out for Alvarado.
With the bases still loaded, Pillar came to bat for the Mets who were still looking for their first run of the day. However, Pillar left the bases loaded as Alvarado forced him into a ground out to end the inning. The Mets left the bases loaded as the Phillies kept the 1-0 lead heading into the seventh inning.
Castro came back out for the seventh inning for the Mets for his second inning of work. He struggled in his second inning of relief as he walked Janksowski to put the lead-off hitter on base. He forced Torreyes into a groundout to collect the first out of the inning, but walked Maton to put runners on first and second. That ended Castro’s outing as Luis Rojas went to his bullpen, replacing Castro with Drew Smith on the mound for the Mets in the seventh to get the final two outs of the game.
Smith did his job, ending the inning with a fly out of Williams and a line out of Herrera.
The Mets came to bat in the seventh needing to get started offensively to either send the game to extra innings or win it. Guillorme reached on a throwing error by Alvarado and advanced to second to open the inning. Albert Almora came in to pinch-hit for Drew Smith. Almora struck out for the first out of the inning. McNeil followed Almora with a ground out for the second out of the inning to advance Guillorme to third.
Francisco Lindor came to bat after McNeil with two outs and came up clutch! Lindor hit an RBI single on a sharp line drive to center field to score Guillorme and tie the game at one in the bottom of the seventh. That was Lindor’s second hit of the day. He was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
With two outs in a tie game in the seventh, Joe Girardi went to the Phillies’ bullpen, replacing Alvarado on the mound with Ranger Suarez to face Michael Conforto who was 0-3 on the day. Suarez grounded out Conforto to send the game to extra innings.
The Mets made defensive substitutions in the eight. Pillar moved to right field from center field, Albert Almora remained in the game at center field, Seth Lugo replaced Smith on the mound for the Mets.
Odubel Herrera started the inning on second base as the automatic base runner. Lugo struck out Rhys Hoskins to open the inning and intentionally walked Harper to put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the eight. After starting putting runners on first and second, Lugo struck out Realmuto and Andrew McCutchens (pinch-hitting for Ranger Suarez) to end the inning and keep the Phillies from scoring.
With the automatic runner on second, the Mets put another runner on and it was Dominic Smith coming up clutch with an RBI single to win the game for the Mets, defeating the Phillies 2-1 in game one of Friday night’s double header.
Game 2 was set to follow game one approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. David Peterson was set to take the mound for the Mets in game two against Matt Moore for the Phillies
