Losing streaks happen throughout the course of a long season. Going back through the course of baseball history shows that even championship clubs have had lost weeks or weekends during the year. When expectations are high, however, they can kill seasons. After losing seven games in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies needed a break. They found one in the struggling New York Mets.
The Mets hadn’t won a series in three weeks. They had just come off a devastating late-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. They needed to snap out of it and may have even thought they were catching Philly at the right time to get healthy. As it turned out, it was the other way around.
Monday Night Slugfest
Zach Eflin took the hill for the Phillies in the opener. He was looking to build on a recent hot streak, having allowed only three runs in eight of his last nine starts. Things, however, did not start well. Eflin gave up RBI hits to Michael Conforto and Todd Frazier at the top of the first and found himself in a hole right away. That’s when the Phillies’ bats went to work.
Rhys Hoskins and Jean Segura struck back with solo home runs in the bottom half. An infield single by Roman Quinn gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in a back-and-forth game. New York fell behind 4-2 before rallying to take a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning. But Maikel Franco, who has struggled all season long, put the Phils ahead for good with a two-run homer in the bottom half.
Philly hit four home runs as part of a 19-hit barrage on their way to a 13-7 victory. Eflin struggled but won his seventh game of the year in helping to snap the season’s longest losing streak.
Sixth Inning Comeback
The pitching matchup for Tuesday night looked to have favored the Phillies. Former all-star Jake Arrieta took the mound for Philly. The Mets countered with 25-year-old Walker Lockett, a veteran of just four previous major league starts. Despite the apparent mismatch, the early portion of the game belonged to New York.
An RBI single by Robinson Cano and a sacrifice fly by Conforto gave the Mets the lead in the first inning. Solo home runs by Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith gave the Mets a 4-1 lead. They took a 5-2 lead into the sixth, where the Phillies took control of the game.
Jay Bruce knocked in one run on a ground out. Cesar Hernandez knocked in another on an infield single. That set the stage for Franco to again play the hero. He launched a two-run homer off of reliever, Wilmer Font, giving Philly a 6-5 lead they would not relinquish. The Mets would threaten in the eighth and ninth but would go down for the second night in a row.
More Late Inning Heroics
Wednesday night’s game began much the same as the first two, with the Mets taking an early lead. Home runs by Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil staked New York to a 2-0 lead. RBI hits by McNeil and Tomas Nido gave the Mets a 4-0 lead in the sixth. Jason Vargas was brilliant through six, allowing only a solo homer to Jean Segura. Vargas ran into trouble in the seventh, and the Mets brought in the recently embattled Lugo to try and save the lead. Fortunately for the Phillies, Lugo’s struggles earlier this week were only the beginning of his struggles.
Cesar Hernandez just missed a two-run home run, settling for a ground-rule double that scored J.T. Realmuto to make it 4-2. Two batters later, Segura snuck a single through the right side scoring two and tying the game. Jay Bruce capped off the comeback with an RBI double in the bottom of the 10th, netting Philly a 5-4 win. For the second night in a row, the Mets’ starters handed a lead to their bullpen, who blew it. Thursday afternoon’s game brought more of the same, this time in a much more sudden and painful turn of events.
It’s a Walk-Off!
Aaron Nola threw seven scoreless innings on Thursday. He bested an equally terrific Zach Wheeler, who’d allowed only a single run in his six innings. The Phillies handed a 1-0 lead to Hector Neris in the ninth looking for the sweep. However, New Jersey native and former Yankee Todd Frazier had other ideas. He cracked a dramatic two-run homer to left field off of Neris, giving the Mets the lead. They tacked on an insurance run and handed the game to former Mariners All-Star Edwin Diaz. It looked as though the Mets would salvage the finale. What followed is what the Phils hope will be an omen for the rest of the season.
Stepping to the plate as the tying run, Maikel Franco blasted a two-run homer into the left-center field bleachers to tie the score. Four batters later, a still shell-shocked Diaz served up a game-winning three-run home run to Segura, capping off an exhilarating 6-3 win for the Phillies and a four-game sweep.
What Does It Mean?
Does this dramatic sweep of their division rivals signal a turning point for the Phillies’ season? It’s too early to say. Two more losses to the Miami Marlins this weekend might suggest that this was just one struggling team taking advantage of another.
The Phillies have a road series with the first-place Atlanta Braves coming up this week. They then wrap up the first half with a three-game series against the Mets in Queens. We’ll have a better idea by next Sunday if this team has been awakened from its slumber or just had their sleep slightly disturbed by a bad Mets team.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
