For a second straight day, the Phillies walked off winners against the Mets. Thursday afternoon’s victory completed a four-game sweep of the Mets, a much-needed turnaround for the Phillies, who entered the series having lost seven consecutive games.
The Phillies actually came from behind in all four games. On Monday, they trailed 6-5 heading into the bottom of the fifth and ended up winning 13-7. The Phillies trailed the Mets 5-2 going into the bottom of the sixth before going on to win 7-5. Yesterday, the Phillies fell behind 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth before eventually walking off 5-4 winners.
Thursday afternoon’s game was a pitchers’ duel between Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler. Both starters traded zeroes until Bryce Harper smoked a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth off of Wheeler. Wheeler would ultimately give up the lone run on two hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over six innings. Nola held the Mets scoreless across seven innings, limiting them to a hit and a walk with 10 strikeouts.
The Mets appeared to be on their way to salvaging the final game of the series when Todd Frazier hit a two-run home run off of Héctor Neris -- working on a third consecutive day -- in the top of the ninth. They would tack on one more run to bring a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Closer Edwin Díaz, however, proved a leaky faucet for the Mets. He issued a leadoff walk to César Hernández before serving up a game-tying two-run home run to Maikel Franco. After striking out J.T. Realmuto, Díaz walked Sean Rodríguez and gave up a hard-hit single to Scott Kingery to bring up Jean Segura. Díaz threw him nothing but fastballs. Segura didn’t miss the fifth one, sending it over the fence in left field for a walk-off three-run home run. The 6-3 win sealed a four-game series sweep.
Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen said, “For a team that has plumbed the depths this year, this is the abyss.”
Now on a five-game losing streak, the embattled Mets are 4-11 since June 13. Considering the recent unnecessary conflict with a beat reporter as well, it’s hard to imagine how things could go worse for the Mets. The Phillies, meanwhile, sorely needed to take advantage of their opportunity. If the Braves go on to lose Thursday afternoon’s contest with the Cubs, the Phillies will trail them by only 4.5 games with the end of June on the horizon.