Entering tonight’s game between the Mets and Phillies, Philadelphia starting pitcher Aaron Nola was sporting an ERA just south of ten over his last six starts and had been mired in one of the worst seasons of his major league career. Meanwhile, the Mets had Nolan McLean on the mound, and he was enjoying a perfect 4-0 start to his major league career. With the Phillies lining up their three best (healthy) starters over the next three nights, this seemed like the Mets’ best shot at a win this week
at Citizens Bank Park, and yet the end result was a demoralizing 1-0 loss.
As Kevin Malone said on The Office, “Why waste time say lot words, when few word do trick”. The Mets offense was bad in this one. Very bad. Going up against Nola and his 9.69 ERA in first innings, the Mets managed just a Juan Soto walk. Jeff McNeil and Brett Baty singled in the second to give the Mets first and third, but Cedric Mullins, who entered on an 0-for-24 skid, struck out to end the inning. Mullins recorded two outs in this one to extend his 0-for to a career-worst 0-for-26. The Mets got a two-out double from Pete Alonso in the third, but Brandon Nimmo was called out on strikes to end the frame.
And that was it in terms of hits until the ninth inning. The Mets did not record from the fourth through the eighth, not against Nola, David Robertson, or Matt Strahm. They went down 1-2-3 in the fourth and got a Baty leadoff walk in the fifth, but he was picked off with two outs to end the frame. On the latter play, Baty was initially called safe—he was very much out—and the Phillies took more than the allowable 15 seconds to review, but they were somehow allowed to go forward with their review request and the play was overturned. The Mets went down meekly in the sixth against Nola and the seventh against Robertson, and they managed a two-out walk from Francisco Lindor in the eighth against Strahm but could not get him home, as Soto grounded out to second.
On the pitching side, the Mets got another strong start to McLean, who went 5 1/3 innings, struck out five, and allowed one earned run, joining Fernando Valenzuela as the only starters to go five-plus with five or more strikeouts and fewer than three runs in each of their first five career starts. The lone Phillies run came in the second, when Max Kepler and Harrison Bader led off with back-to-back singles—Bader was thrown out at second by Mullins for the first out—and Nick Castellanos drove Kepler home with a single. That held up for the rest of the game, as mentioned.
McLean navigated traffic in every inning except the first and the sixth, when he was removed after recording the first out. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff single to Bader, who was eventually thrown out by Alvarez. After a Bryson Stott single, Edmundo Sosa was struck out, and there was some bad blodd when Alvarez tagged him after dropping the ball, which caused Sosa to exchange some words with the team’s catcher. Cooler heads prevailed and the game went off without any other issues. McLean walked two in the fifth—he wound up walking three in total—but he escaped that inning unscathed. The Mets got 2 2/3 scoreless innings from Gregory Soto, Brooks Raley, and Ryan Helsley to keep the game at 1-0.
Things got interesting in the ninth inning against Jhoan Duran, as they did back on August 26. The Mets got a leadoff single from Alonso, who was replaced on the basepaths from Ronny Mauricio. After a Nimmo fly out, Mark Vientos doubled to put runners on second and third with two outs—Vientos was replaced at second by pinch runner Jared Young. Jeff McNeil, with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, struck out on a fastball, and then Alvarez whiffed on three pitches well out of the zone to end the game. Cue the Futurama, “You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!” quote.
With the loss, the Mets’ hopes of an NL East run are all but over. The Mets turn their attention to the Wild Card race and, with the defeat, see their lead shrink to 3.5 games. Most of the teams that matter to New York are playing on the West Coast tonight, so clarity on the team’s position will be available tomorrow morning.
The Mets will try to get back on track tomorrow night, as Sean Manaea takes the mound opposite Ranger Suárez in a battle of lefties.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Mark Vientos, +17.7% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jeff McNeil, -27.7% WPA
Mets pitchers: +26.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -76.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos double in the ninth, +27.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nick Castellanos run-scoring single in the second, -5.8% WPA
