Mets 10 Phillies 6 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 85-68
Mets streak: Won 4
WP - Luis Severino (11-6)
LP - Taijuan Walker (3-7)
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.
So many Mets had outstanding offensive performances, so it was hard to choose one. But Brandon Nimmo's homer which gave the Mets the lead for good, two hits and three RBI give him a slight edge over the rest in New York's 10-6 victory on Thursday.
Need to Know
With the Braves and Diamondbacks victories, the Mets remain two games ahead of the Braves for WC3 and tied with Arizona for WC2. (The Mets hold the tiebreaker with the Diamondbacks.)
The Mets have now won 16 of their last 20 games.
The Mets scored ten runs in three straight games for the first time in their history.
Luis Severino gave the Mets a quality start with a six inning outing where he gave up three runs on five hits and 2 walks while striking out seven. Severino is now 6-2 record and a 2.96 ERA in 97 and 1/3 innings at Citi Field this season.
Jose Iglesias, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and Harrison Bader all had two hits each for the Mets. Bader's two hits came in relief of Jesse Winker.
Nimmo, Vientos, Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez all homered for the Mets.
Luisangel Acuna went 1-for-4 with an RBI triple in place of Francisco Lindor, who missed his fourth straight game on Thursday with a strained back muscle. Acuna has RBI in his last three games.
Turning Point
The game turned a few times in the early innings, but the one that gave the Mets enough insurance to withstand a 7th inning Philly rally is the one that I'm going with: a three run HR by Francisco Alvarez to turn this from a nail biter to a rocking chair game.
Three Keys
It's A Power Play Show
The four Mets who hit dingers tonight are four Mets who might have needed them the most. Mark Vientos had just endured a stretch where his OPS was .268 over ten games, and his blast ended an 11 game homerless stretch.
Pete Alonso made it back to back, and the guy who has the ability to carry a team now has two homers in his last three games.
Brandon Nimmo's OPS this season is 70 points below his career OPS. But one night after he begged the people to pack the house this weekend showed them what they missed if they didn't. His homer put the Mets in the lead for good.
Francisco Alvarez's sophomore slump has been well documented. But in his last three games he has an OPS of 1.625, and last night's missile hit off the Caesars Club.
Gutting One Out
We like to praise pitchers when they win games 1-0 or 2-1. Those are your classic pitchers duels. But sometimes pitchers can be the difference makers in a game like last night. I got a DM last night with the score 4-3 that said "do we like that this is a back and forth slugfest?" My response was that "well we have Luis Severino and they don't."
It also helped that the Mets had seen Taijuan Walker pitch last week for three innings and got a refresher course on him. But let's face it: Walker is struggling mightily this season while Severino game into this game on a heater, having given up one run or less in four of his previous six starts.
Not Just An Angel
In 19 at-bats in the majors, Luisangel Acuna has a WAR of 0.6.
In 37 at-bats in the majors for the Mets in 2024, Joey Wendle has a WAR of -0.1.
It's small sample size theater, but it illustrates the impact that Acuna has had for this team after struggling for Syracuse this season. He went from an OPS of .654 in AAA to an OPS of 1.316 in the majors.
The last player I remember being "bored" in the minors and then taking the majors by storm was Matt Harvey.
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