The New York Mets (48-42) were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies (43-49) by a score of 4-2 Saturday night in Philadelphia. At the time of this article, the Nationals are beating the Pirates 6-0 in the 7th, and if they win, the Mets will be 7 games out of first place.
Offense:
In the third inning, Juan Lagares smacked a double to left and was moved to third on a Logan Verrett sac bunt. Jose Reyes, who already had a single and a stolen base, drove him in with a sacrifice fly to then tie the game at one apiece.
The Mets kept it going in the 4th, when Curtis Granderson got things going with a double. After Neil Walker grounded out to second, some stellar situational hitting, Travis d’Arnaud drove in Grandy with a sac fly to left.
The 7th inning was very interesting. After Travis d’Arnaud led off with a double, Brandon Nimmo hit a comebacker to the mound. d’Arnaud was caught in no man’s land, and the pitcher Jerad Eickhoff ran him back towards second. A good throw would have gotten him out, however he hesitated and made a bad throw. d’Arnaud was initially ruled out on the field, however the Mets challenged and the call was overturned, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.
Juan Lagares then bunted both runners over, bringing Kelly Johnson to the plate. He flew out to left field, not quite getting it deep enough for a sac fly. After Jose Reyes walked to load the bases, Asdrubal Cabrera lined one into the left-center gap, on which the left fielder Cody Asche made a nice sliding play to save at least two runs and end the inning.
Jeanmar Gomez came in for the save with the Mets losing 4-2. Brandon Nimmo led off the 9th and after narrowly missing an extra base hit down the left field line, he flew out to left for the first out. Juan Lagares struck out looking on a fastball, and Alejandro De Aza lined out to center field to end the game.
Pitching:
Nothing came easy for Logan Verrett tonight, who fought through 6 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking one, allowing a solo home run to Ryan Howard.
Jerry Blevins came in for the 7th to preserve the 2-2 score, and proceeded to strike out Odubel Herrera. Peter Bourjos then hit a routine grounder to Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop, who threw it away allowing the speedy Bourjos to reach base. After falling behind Cody Asche 3-0, he worked the count back full before just missing with a fastball away.
Terry brought in Hansel Robles to face Maikel Franco with runners on first and second with one out. Franco singled to left, scoring Bourjos and giving the Phillies a 3-2 lead. That run was unearned, as Asdrubal Cabrera’s routine error really came back to bite the Mets.
The 8th inning featured Erik Goeddel, who promptly allowed a double to Carlos Ruiz. He was advanced to third on a groundout before scoring on a wild pitch, increasing the Phillies’ lead to 4-2.
Antonio Bastardo came in to face Odubel Herrera and induced a flyout to end the inning.
On Deck:
Tomorrow, the Mets will send Jacob deGrom (5-4, 2.61 ERA) to face off against the Phillies’ Zach Eflin (2-2, 4.08 ERA) at 1:35 PM in Philadelphia.
