Mets torture Phillies one more time on their way out the door

It was just like old times for the Phillies on Sunday. They blew three leads, two saves and played poor defense.

The result of that ugly trifecta was an excruciating 10-9 loss to the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park.

The regular-season series between the two teams is now over. The Phillies lost 14 of the 19 meetings between the two clubs and failed to win any of the six series.

Sunday's loss -- in a torturous four hours, 26 minutes and that's not counting a 46-minute rain delay -- was right up there on the pain meter. The Phillies got a pair of three-run homers from Alec Bohm and a dramatic, tie-breaking, pinch-hit homer from Jean Segura in the bottom of the eighth inning.

In the end, none of it mattered and the Phillies ended up slipping into the third and final NL wild-card spot, a half-game behind San Diego and 1½ games up on Milwaukee with 41 to play.

The Phils blew a 4-0 lead early in the game, a three-run lead in the seventh inning and a one-run lead in the top of the ninth.

At times, it seemed like the Mets were toying with the Phillies.

"You make bad pitches and these big-league hitters will make you pay for it," David Robertson said.

Robertson was talking about himself as he gave up a two-run homer to Mark Canha to blow a one-run lead in the ninth and take the loss, but he just as easily could have been talking about starter Kyle Gibson or reliever Connor Brogdon. Gibson struggled with command in the middle innings and gave up a 4-0 lead after he was let down by his defense (two errors) in the second inning. Brogdon gave up a pair of singles and surrendered a three-run homer to Canha as the Mets tied the game at 7-7 in the seventh.

Segura led off the bottom of the eighth with his go-ahead homer. As he danced around the bases, Robertson informed bullpen coach Dave Lundquist that he was good to pitch the ninth. There had been some question whether he'd be available after throwing 36 pitches and notching a two-inning save on Saturday night. Robertson needed to go two innings in that game because closer Seranthony Dominguez was down with a triceps injury that landed him on the injured list Sunday.

"Robertson was emergency, but they called down and said he was good to go if we had the lead," Thomson said.

Phillies killer Jeff McNeil opened the ninth with a double to right against Robertson. Canha then clubbed an up-and-in, 2-2 fastball over the wall in left to give the Mets a 9-8 lead. Canha had noticed the way Segura danced around the bases and celebrated his homer with an out-of-character, big-air bat flip and the many Mets fans in the crowd of 35,801 went crazy while the many Phillies fans wondered if they were watching some kind of dark highlight reel from the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

"I asked for the ball," Roberston said. "It's my second stint here. I want to come through for the guys, it didn't work out for me today.

"The crappy part is I felt better today than I did yesterday, command-wise. I made one bad pitch and had to pay for it with a loss. I did not mean to leave that ball up and in on him. He had already hit a home run on that pitch earlier in the game. I was trying to drive a fastball down and away and overthrew it."

Robertson signed a two-year, $23 million contract with the Phillies before the 2019 season but pitched in just seven games with the club because of an elbow injury that required surgery. He worked his way back to the majors with Tampa Bay last year and was acquired by the Phils from the Cubs a couple of weeks ago in a trade deadline deal. The Phillies' front office wanted to pair Robertson's late-game experience with Dominguez' firepower at the end of games. Now, Dominguez is down and Robertson's role is even more important.

After giving up the two-run homer to Canha in the top of the ninth, Robertson gathered himself and struck out two batters. Thomson then pulled Robertson for Tyler Cyr, who had arrived earlier in the day to replace Dominguez. In his big-league debut, Cyr gave up a solo homer to Brandon Nimmo to give the Mets a two-run lead. That proved to be big because the Phillies did push across a run in the bottom of the ninth before Edwin Diaz, the Mets' elite closer, ended the game with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Darick Hall with two men on base.

Thomson said he had no regrets about taking out Robertson and bringing in Cyr for Nimmo.

"Once they go up one, it's pretty difficult to score off (Diaz), although we did," Thomson said. "But at that point, it's Robertson's health I'm concerned about. He's at 21 pitches and that's where I wanted to limit it. Cyr came in and the home run turned out to be big. But I'd do it the exact same way every time because I'm not going to get him hurt."

At 37, Roberston has been through the wars.

This one hurt.

"I felt confident in myself to go out there and do it and I just stunk it up," he said. "I wanted this one and it stings. Now, I've got to go home and live with it."

On the bright side, after three losses in four games -- in front of wild crowds that totaled 155,160 -- the Phillies are done with the Mets ...

"We're going to face them again, hopefully, in the playoffs," Thomson said. "We've bounced back from tough losses before and I'm expecting the same thing tomorrow. Now, we just have to get after Cincinnati."

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