The New York Mets were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 4-3 on Friday night at Citi Field.
Steven Matz started for the Mets and lasted five innings while allowing two earned runs on on three hits and a pair of walks while striking out eight batters. Despite a high pitch count, his only mistake was a walk followed by a two-run homer by Carlos Santana.
Matz has been on a roll of late and he now has a 2.25 ERA with 31 strikeouts in his last four starts and has fanned at least seven batters in three-straight starts for the first time in his career.
Eric Hanhold took over in the sixth and quickly gave up a double and an RBI single to Asdrubal Cabrera to knot the game at 3-3. Tyler Bashlor pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, but it was a homer to Rhys Hoskins to lead off the eighth that did the Mets in and put the Phillies back in front 4-3. Bashlor took the loss.
Offensively, the Mets scored all three runs off starter and Cy Young contender Aaron Nola. It was Jay Bruce who got things started when he belted a long homer to right center field to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Jeff McNeil contributed a RBI-double to score Brandon Nimmo. McNeil has reached base safely in each of his last 20 starts and has hit safely in 19 of those 20 starts. Dominic Smith hit an opposite field solo home run in the seventh for the third and final run for the Amazins.
Up Next
The Mets (63-77) will continue their series with the Phillies on Saturday at 7:10 PM with Noah Syndergaard (3.33 ERA) opposing Zach Eflin (4.05 ERA) for the Phillies.
