Mets 4, Phillies 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Series Status: Mets Win 3-1
WP: David Peterson (1-0) LP: Jeff Hoffman (1-2)
SV: Edwin Diaz (1)
Seat On The Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
The Seat on the Korner is a fairly obvious one as Francisco Lindor flipped the entire game with one swing. Lindor's grand slam off Carlos Estevez in the sixth was the highlight of his 2-for-5 day and made another statement as to why he should be named the National League MVP.
Need To Know
The Mets' victory marks the first time they've secured either a postseason berth or a playoff series win at Citi Field since the ballpark opened in 2009.
The Mets haven't clinched a postseason series at home since beating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2000 National League Championship Series and haven't clinched a playoff berth at home since winning the National League East in 2006 against Miami.
The Mets are now 5-0 all-time in the National League Division Series, giving them the best record in this round since its advent in 1995.
The Phillies have now done worse in the past two postseasons, regressing from a World Series appearance in 2022 to an NLCS appearance last season before dropping this series.
Phillies' starter Ranger Suarez worked into and out of trouble early in the game, yielding five hits and walking four but surrendering no runs in 4.1 innings thanks in part to eight strikeouts as the Mets had trouble identifying his curveball.
The Mets are into the NLCS for the first time since 2015, when they swept the Chicago Cubs in four games to get to the World Series.
The Mets will be on the road for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the winner of the Padres-Dodgers series on Sunday night.
Turning Point
The obvious answer is Lindor's grand slam, so we'll include that here.
An honorable mention came in the top of the frame, when the Phillies threatened to expand their 1-0 lead with runners on first and second with one out, but the combination of Reed Garrett and David Peterson got a strikeout of J.T. Realmuto and a groundout from Bryson Stott to end the threat and set the stage for Lindor's heroics.
Three Things
Quality From Quintana
Jose Quintana continued his strong run of pitching with five innings of one-run ball, taking advantage of some aggressive swings from the Phillies lineup to get them to chase pitches out of the strike zone. Philadelphia generated just two hits and two walks against Quintana, who got the Mets a decent way into the game and has a 0.00 ERA over 11 postseason innings since the run he surrendered today was unearned.
David Peterson's Relief Role After doing strong work in relief in Game 1, Carlos Mendoza entrusted Peterson as the bridge to Edwin Diaz in Game 4. Peterson picked up seven big outs, giving up just two hits and inducing a critical double play off the bat of Kyle Schwarber in the seventh to put together a shutdown inning after Lindor put the Mets in front. There is a good chance the Mets don't win this series if Peterson isn't able to make the transition from starter to reliever on the fly.
A Shaky Ninth Inning
For the first time this postseason, Edwin Diaz was called upon for a save opportunity. Clearly dealing with a ton of adrenaline, Diaz was wild out of the gate, walking the first two men to face him to draw a mound visit from Jeremy Hefner. The chat seemed to calm down Diaz, who struck out Kody Clemens, induced a fly out from Brandon Marsh and struck out Schwarber to end the series. The Mets will need Diaz to get big outs if they are going to keep this run going so having Diaz find a way to get out of trouble here could pay dividends later this month.
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