Phillies enter a soggy Saturday afternoon with two wins on the series against the New York Mets. Both Thursday night and Friday night games end with a 5-4 Phillies victory. Philadelphia looks for the series win with Wheeler on the mound. The Phillies keep the bats alive in cold, damp weather. The Phillies win another close battle with the New York Mets.
Tonight’s game against the Mets had some important playoff implications. It was more than just positioning in the standings. Mother Nature was playing hard to get, and Zach Wheeler was taking the mound. The Phillies need the game to go off today because they plan to flip Zack Wheeler’s and Taijuan Walker’s spots in the final turn through the rotation. After today, Wheeler would pitch Thursday against the Pirates. This would line Wheeler up for Game 1 of the wildcard series on normal rest on 10/3.
A Back-And-Forth Battle
The Mets strike first on this windy day. Zack Wheeler had a hard time finding the strike zone for the first two batters of the inning. He walks right fielder DJ Stewart and gives up a single to Ronny Mauricio. Brett Baty serves a nice double play ball to shortstop Trea Turner. Turners lets the ball roll between his legs towards centerfield, allowing Stewart and Batty to score. Turner could have had Batty out but was lackadaisical in getting the ball back in play. The Mets were up 2-0 early on.
The Phillies did not take long to return the favor. It started with a solo homer to right field from Bryce Harper to get the energy surging at Citizens Bank Park. This is his 20th homerun on the season. Harper had only 5 homeruns 6 weeks ago. J.T. Realmuto reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Francisco Lindor, and Nick Castellanos legs out a triple, scoring Realmuto. The game is tied at 2-2 in South Philly.
What looked to be a quiet third got loud with an Alec Bohm homer. All left fielder Jeff McNeil could do is watch the homerun enter the first couple of rows. Phillies lead 3-2.
In the 6th inning, Johan Rojas legs out an infield single on a throwing error from Mets third baseman Brett Baty. Schwarber hits a double that would have been a home run any other day. Trea Turner reaches on a fielder’s choice, shortstop Francisco Lindor decides to get Johan Rojas at home, but the speedy centerfielder beats the tag and scores. Bryce Harper doing Bryce Harper things adds two more RBIs to his total. He singles and scores Schwarber and Turner. Realmuto would single, but Castellanos struck out, ending the inning with the Phightins up 6-2.
In the End, Winning Matters
Mets have had success in the seventh with back-to-back singles from Baty and Vientos. Nimmo sends the ball to centerfield, but it is missed played by Johna Rojas and goes over his head. Two runs scored, and Nimmo is on third. SMets second baseman Francisco Lindor flies out left, and Schawarber makes an athletic catch and misses the throw to home by a hair. Nimmo scores and the game gets tight. 6-5, the Phillies are only up one run.
In the bottom of the seventh, JT Realmuto drives an RBI single to center field to score Alec Bohm. The Phillies gain an insurance run and win 7-5 over the New York Mets.
What Wind?
On a day fit for Seattle, you expect some balls knocked down or missed played. Third baseman Edmundo Sosa trying to snare some towering pop-ups ups was definitely hard to track down. Watching the young center fielder, Johan Rojas run from center to left field and track a ball most would not have been able to is something special. The wind was a factor for both teams. Kyle Schwarber was robbed of a homerun but legs out a double in the 5th. Sosa was also robbed of a solo homer in the 6th. The wind did not stop the Philly Phaithful. Forty thousand plus attended this inclement game, bringing the heat that Mother Nature did not.
Wheels Up and Bullpen Shuts It Down
Wheeler had a good game until the seventh. Not all the blemishes on his record for this game were on him. The wind and defensive miscues did not help his cause. He went seven innings and allowed five runs, but only three were earned. He had six strikeouts and only one walk. This was with ninety-nine pitches thrown.
Gregory Soto comes in relief in the eighth inning. He starts with a file out to Mets heavy hitter Pete Alonso. The sequence from there goes walk, strikeout, single. The fans would cheer on Soto to strike out Mets DH Mark Vientos to escape the eighth unscathed.
Jose Alvarado came to shut this cold game down. As usual, he brought his own heat. He gets two batters to fly out and strikes out Brandon Nimmo. The Phillies bullpen came in and shut everything down for their Ace, Zack Wheeler.
Realmuto Playing Better at CBP…Lately
It is no secret that Realmuto has not enjoyed much home cooking this season. Lately, he has been feeling the love at Citizens Bank Park. He had a huge three-run blast on Friday night. JT also went three for four on the night. He drove in the go-ahead run on top of his always-stellar defense. He helped to produce a strike’em out, throw’em out in a key moment. Hopefully, he is coming on at the right time for the Phightins.
The Phillies go for the series sweep on Sunday…weather permitting.
Al is one of the two co-creators of Edge of Philly Sports. Al started radio and podcasting in 2012 and covering sports in 2015. A lifelong Philly sports fan since watching the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers with his grandfathers at age 7. Al always looks at the other side of the hot topics and gives his different outlook on those topics. Web and Graphic Design.
