The Mets dealt with an apparent injury, an ace on the mound, and an overworked bullpen. They overcame it all to beat the Phillies 4-3, sweeping their NL East rivals and rounding out a perfect home stand.
The game saw a lot of baserunners, but not a ton of scoring early on. In nine of the first ten half innings, each team had at least one baserunner, and each club stranded small villages on the basepaths this afternoon.
The scoring got underway for the Mets in the second inning. Mark Vientos singled to start the frame. After two strikeouts, Brett Baty blasted his first home run of the season, putting the Mets up 2-0.
In the fourth, Mets’ starter David Peterson got singled into oblivion, giving up two runs on four singles to Alec Bohm, Weston Wilson, Johan Rojas, and Trea Turner, allowing the Phillies to even the game up at two apiece.
Starting pitchers Peterson and old friend Zack Wheeler had similar lines over their afternoons of work. Both had to work around a lot of runners and neither looked as dominant as we’ve seen them in the past.
Peterson was pulled after allowing a baserunner to reach in the sixth after 89 pitches. His final line 5.1 innings, with eight hits, one walk, two strikeouts, and two earned runs. He was relieved by Huascar Brazoban, who stranded the runner on first and got through the inning unscathed.
Wheeler went six, striking out nine, allowing five hits and two walks. He ended his day with his first one-two-three inning of the game, striking out Tyrone Taylor on his 107th pitch.
In the top of the seventh, Baty’s hot day continued, where he ranged up the middle to throw out Turner on a really nice play for the first out. Brazoban was then pulled in favor of lefty Danny Young, who struck out Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber on nine total pitches.
Matt Strahm was the first out of the ‘pen for the Phillies and, aside from a two-out single off the end of Francisco Lindor’s bat, he retired the Mets without incident.
The top of the eighth was handled by Jose Butto, who worked out of trouble when he was saved by Juan Soto gunning down Nick Castellanos at home plate for the third out.
The Mets’ bats went quiet in the eighth and ninth innings. Edwin Diaz pitched a sterling ninth inning, and came back out for the tenth. With Harper as the Manfred Man on second base, after a strikeout of Schwarber, Harper stole third without a throw. Castellanos then lined a single past a diving Vientos to score Harper and put the Phillies up 3-0.
Things then broke bad for the Mets, as Diaz stepped off the mound three times, leading to an automatic balk and sending Castellanos to second. More concerning, however, was that Diaz appeared to be hurt, pointing to his left hip, and exiting the game promptly. The umpires eventually rescinded the balk, as the third disengagement because he stepped off due to injury.
Max Kranick replaced Diaz, joining a 1-0 count to J.T. Realmuto already in progress. Kranick walked Realmuto, putting men on first and second with one out. Bohm singled the opposite way to load the bases. Bryston Stott hit a shallow fly ball, not deep enough to score Castellanos from third, and that was followed up by a Max Keppler fly ball down the right field line that Soto pocketed for the third out.
The bottom of the tenth started with Lindor on second as the free runner with Soto at the plate against the struggling Jordan Romano. Soto dribbled a ball in between first and second to advance Lindor over to third. After looking slow on two fastballs, Pete Alonso lined a double the opposite field to score Lindor and tie the game. Brandon Nimmo was intentionally walked, putting two on for Vientos, who looked overmatched at the plate and struck out on a fastball down the middle.
That brought up Starling Marte, who dunked a broken bat single over second base to score Alonso and win the damn ballgame.
The Mets are now 11 games over .500 on the season at 18-7, five up on the Phillies in the division, and winners of seven straight, sweeping the entire homestand against the Cardinals and Phillies, two teams that, historically, have had the Mets’ number.
What a week it has been.
After a well deserved off-day tomorrow, the Mets travel to Washington D.C. to play the Nationals in a four game, wraparound series. Kodai Senga starts for the Mets.
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Win Probability Added
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What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Starling Marte, +33.8% WPA
Big Mets loser: Mark Vientos, -14.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +33.7% WPA
Mets hitters: +16.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte’s game-winning single, +39.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nick Castellanos’s RBI single in the top of the tenth, -14.7% WPA
