New York Mets 11, Philadelphia Phillies 3 (Citizen's Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA)
Mets Record: 81-66 Mets Streak: W2
Mets Last 10: 8-2
WP: Jose Quintana (9-9) LP: Aaron Nola (12-8)
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.
Today's Seat On The Korner goes to Mets' starting pitcher Jose Quintana, who kept his hot streak going against a strong Phillies' lineup. Quintana shut out the Phillies for seven innings, allowing just three hits and striking out four to lower his ERA to 3.91 for the season. The Mets have seen Quintana allow just one earned run over his past four starts, a span of 25.1 innings pitched where he has won three straight starts.
Need To Know:
The Mets are now 3-4 this season against the Phillies.
Nola dropped to 9-9 with a 3.46 ERA in 28 career starts against the Mets.
Quintana earned his first career win against the Phillies in his 12th career start against them.
Francisco Lindor left today's game in the bottom of the seventh inning due to soreness in his lower back. There wasn't any immediate word how serious the soreness was from the Mets.
The Mets shut down Dedniel Nunez for the season after he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow. The hope is that Nunez will be able to avoid surgery and be ready to go in spring training.
The Mets currently have a 1.5-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for the final wild card spot but Atlanta can trim it back to one game if they maintain their 5-2 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers (as of post time).
Turning Point:
For the second straight game, the Mets got off to a slow start at the plate as their offense was hitless for the first four innings against Nola tonight. The Mets got a pair on in the top of the fifth ahead of Francisco Alvarez, who crushed a three-run homer to put them on top. The blast was Alvarez's three-run homer in the past two games, which is a hopeful sign that he is starting to get rolling in time for the final playoff push.
Three Things:
Have The Mets Found Nimmo?
While Pete Alonso's inconsistent season has drawn all the attention, Brandon Nimmo has been struggling massively in the second half, hitting just .182 with two home runs and 12 RBI entering play today. The Mets got a clutch hit from Nimmo in the fifth when he swatted a three-run homer to knock Nola out of the game and make it 6-0. The offense is much more dynamic if Nimmo is clicking so the Mets have to be hopeful this blast is a sign he's about to heat up again.
Third Time's The Charm
The three-run homer was a trend for the Mets on Friday night. While the Mets got the two aforementioned blasts in the fifth inning, Harrison Bader turned the contest into a blowout with a three-run bomb of his own in the eighth. The Mets have hit plenty of long balls this season, but the ability to put up multiple three-run homers in a single game can help take a lot of pressure off their pitching staff, which has done a ton of heavy lifting in the second half.
Staring Down A Tough Schedule
Much has been made of the Mets' tough schedule to finish the season, which ranks as the most difficult in baseball based on the winning percentage of their opponents. Getting a win in Philadelphia, the current owner of the best record in Major League Baseball, is a good start to the final two and a half weeks of the season for the Mets. With only three games left against non-contending teams (all at home against Washington early next week), the Mets will need to put together more strong efforts like tonight if they hope to snag a Wild Card spot in the competitive National League.
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