Phillies 5 Mets 1 (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA)
Mets record: 34-41
Mets streak: Lost 3
WP - Taijuan Walker (8-3)
LP - Kodai Senga (6-5)
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.
Taijuan Walker shut down his former teammates for six innings, giving up three hits and a walk while striking out five in a 5-1 Phillies victory over the Mets on Friday.
Need to Know
Walker's outing against the Mets tonight was a bounce back from his first outing against the Mets this season on June 1st, when he gave up three runs in four innings in a 4-2 Mets victory.
Since that June 1st game, the Mets have gone 4-14.
Brandon Nimmo's solo HR in the top of the third gave the Mets their only run off Walker and the Phillies.
Kodai Senga lasted 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks. He threw 102 pitches, 62 for strikes.
Vinny Nittoli made his Mets debut in the 8th inning.
Brandon Marsh was the offensive star for the Phillies from the 8th spot in the order, going 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Though that RBI hit had some mitigating circumstances. Which brings us to the ...
Turning Point
With the Mets trailing 2-1 in the 6th inning, the Phillies had runners on first and third with one out. Senga was then pulled to get lefty Josh Walker in to face lefty Brandon Marsh. The strategy worked as Walker got Marsh to pop up for an easy second out.
However ...
The Phillies would score two more runs in the inning on a two out single by Trea Turner off Jeff Brigham, made possible by the Marsh "single" to make it 3-1.
Three Keys
Defense is offensive: The tweet above noted that there were two pop ups with a 95% catch probability that the Mets didn't convert on. The first one came on the first Philie batter of the game as Brandon Nimmo dropped a pop-up by Kyle Schwarber, which led to two first inning runs to make the score 2-0. It really could have been tonight's turning point, and maybe should have been. But nobody posted the video on Twitter so that's why we went with the Marsh pop-up.
The signature of this 5-13 stretch has been misplays and vapor locks that had largely escaped the team last season.
Offense is offensive: Maybe the miscues don't matter, as the offense was completely shut down by Walker and the Phillies bullpen. The hitting hasn't been the biggest problem on the team by any stretch over the past week or so. But one run on three hits is not going to get it done, even if the Mets had played crisp baseball tonight.
Senga is wildly maddening: Kodai had the baseline Kodai Senga game tonight. Rough start, decent afterwards, but can't give the team length because his lack of control sends his pitch count skyrocketing, as well as walking guys that come back to haunt him. Obviously, his defense screwed him royally tonight. But his struggles finding the strike zone consistently played a small part in the Mets downfall tonight.
The frustrating part of it is that if he could find the strike zone a little more regularly, he could be not only a good pitcher, but a dominant one because of his stuff.
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