The Mets‘ inability to drive in baserunners bit them again in Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, as they fell out of first place in the NL East.
Here are some key takeaways …
1. The Mets needed a strong start from Marcus Stroman, and the right-hander kept the Phillies quiet for most of the night. He allowed a long solo home run to Didi Gregorius in the second and a triple to Gregorius in the fourth, but he held the Phillies to just one run over his first four innings.
Brad Miller led off the fifth with a triple just out of the reach of Michael Conforto in right, and opposing pitcher Kyle Gibson cashed in with an RBI single to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Stroman’s night ended after five innings, as he allowed two earned on five hits. He struck out five and walked one on 91 pitches (59 strikes).
2. Dominic Smith came through with a big clutch hit for the Mets in the third. With two on and two outs, Smith pulled a single to right off Gibson to score Brandon Nimmo to tie the game 1-1. Smith extended his hitting streak to nine games with his third-inning knock.
3. Defense has been a big issue for the Phillies this season, and some defensive miscues hurt them on Friday night. An error by Miller at first base in the fourth helped the Mets load the bases with nobody out. But after Stroman went down on strikes, Nimmo hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Mets came into the game hitting .215 with the bases loaded, and they wasted a big opportunity in the fourth.
4. The Mets hitting woes, particularly with runners on, reared their ugly head again on Friday. They put plenty of runners on base against Gibson, but had trouble coming up with that big hit when they needed it. In Gibson’s six innings, the Mets put the leadoff man on four times, but they went just 1-for-15 with runners on (1-for-8 with RISP), grounding into two double plays and leaving seven men on base.
5. Even after Gibson’s departure, the Mets still struggled to get anything going. As a team, the Mets left eight men on base and mustered just five hits.
6. After not pitching for five days, including a stint on the paternity list, Edwin Diaz pitched the bottom of the eighth with the Mets down 2-1. After allowing a Jean Segura single, Diaz allowed a Bryce Harper two-run monster home run to center field, providing some insurance runs for the Phillies.
And they came up costly, as Jonathan Villar homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth against Ian Kennedy. But Kennedy was able to close things out, as the Mets fell to second place in the division for the first time since early May.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Phillies go head-to-head again on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. on SNY.
Tylor Megill will go against lefty Ranger Suarez.