The Philadelphia Phillies (87-60) completed their complete and total dismantling of the New York Mets (76-71) with a 6-4 comeback win to seal the series’ sweep on Thursday night.
The Mets’ mustered their last gasp in the first inning with four runs off of Jesus Luzardo. A lesser man/team might have crumbled and said “we took 3/4, on to the next one.” But not these dudes.
Luzardo was perfect for the next SEVEN innings, retiring every batter he faced on 74 pitches and nine punch-outs.
As mentioned on the broadcast several times, it was the first time a Phillies’ starter gave up four runs in the first inning and made it through the eighth since Steve Carlton did it in his final start of the 1977 season.
That gave the offense the breathing room they needed to chip away. Otto Kemp got it started with a two-run homer following a Nick Castellanos walk in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Weston Wilson singled to open the bottom of the fifth and Bryce Harper brought him home on an RBI double.
In the sixth, Castellanos and Kemp opened the frame with back-to-back doubles followed by a pair of walks by Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber and a pair of singles by Harrison Bader and Harper. 6-4 Phils when the dust settled.
Jhoan Duran closed it out with three straight swinging strikeouts against the heart of the Mets’ order in Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos on just 11 pitches.
The Phillies are now 11 games up on the Mets for the division lead, the magic number is five to clinch and games behind the Brewers for the #1 seed in the NL is at two.
The Kansas City Royals come to town tomorrow as Walker Buehler makes his Phillies’ debut against former Phils’ late-season reinforcement starter, Michael Lorenzen.
