Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Described as a must-win by their manager, the Mets entered Sunday’s game desperate. Now, losers of four straight and nine of their last 10, desperation continues to grow.
Zack Wheeler twirled another gem against his former team, leading the Phillies to a 3-0 win and series sweep. The Mets offensive issues are well known but weren’t nearly as concerning while the team remained in first place. Now slipping in the standings New York needs an answer before games resume on Tuesday.
Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a double. A glimmer of hope would be all the Mets get. Wheeler retired Jeff McNeil, struck out Pete Alonso, and Dominic Smith to strand Nimmo at second base.
The next Mets baserunner wouldn’t come until the eighth inning when Michael Conforto walked in a 3-2 count with one out. He was left on base.
Wheeler cemented himself as the top candidate for the National League Cy Young Award on Sunday. He retired 22 consecutive batters after Nimmo’s leadoff double, including eight strikeouts in that stretch. He ended the day with 11.
Javier Báez added injury to insult.
In the fifth inning, Baez chopped a ball to second base. Báez injured himself on the swing and was removed from the game for what the Mets described as left hip tightness. Jonathan Villar moved to shortstop and J.D. Davis entered to play third base.
The Mets are barren at short now. Francisco Lindor, Luis Guillorme, and Jose Peraza are already on the injured list. Baez’s future status is undetermined.
The Phillies, on the other hand, found a way to score runs. Three solo shots by the Phillies 2-3-4 hitters were the difference.
Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto homered off Taijuan Walker in the first inning. Bryce Harper added to the lead with a home run to left field in the sixth inning.
Walker still qualified for a quality start with three runs over six innings pitched. He walked one and struck out one. The Phillies only had four hits against Walker but three left the park.
Jeurys Familia entered in the seventh, allowing one hit. Trevor May pitched a clean eighth inning.
Wheeler finished the complete-game shutout on 107 pitches. Fittingly, the former Met and current Phillies ace did it on the day Philadelphia retired Roy Halladay‘s No. 34. Halladay had 13 career starts against the Mets. He went 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA with two complete games and one shutout.
In Halladay’s May 1, 2010 shutout of the Mets, he went nine innings allowing three hits, one walk, and striking out six. Today, Wheeler went nine innings, allowed two hits, one walk, and struck out 11.
Nimmo added his (and the Mets) second hit of the day in the ninth inning against Wheeler, but the righty finished his masterful performance with a three-pitch strikeout of Alonso.
New York has Monday off. They’ll start a three-game series with Washington on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. with Carlos Carrasco on the mound.
