Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets

· Major League Baseball

Philadelphia Phillies

92-63, 40-37 Away

Final
3 - 6

New York Mets

86-69, 45-35 Home

Mets prevent Phillies from clinching NL East with 6-3 win behind Sean Manaea and Francisco Alvarez

Francisco Alvarez and Luisangel Acuña hit second-inning home runs that put the Mets ahead 2-1. Alvarez added a two-run double in the seventh against Orion Kerkering (5-3) for a 5-2 lead, and Edwin Díaz got a four-out save.

New York (86-69) won for the 17th time in 22 games. The Mets remained two games ahead of Atlanta for the final NL wild card and improved to 5-1 on their seven-game homestand minus star shortstop Francisco Lindor (sore back). They are one game back of Arizona for the second wild cad.

“Yeah, we lost a guy that is in the MVP conversation," manager Carlos Mendoza said, “but hey, we've got to keep going. ... We haven’t done anything. We've still got a lot of important games here.”

A crowd of 44,152 filled Citi Field, just the fourth sellout this season after opening day and a pair of Subway Series games against the Yankees.

“It felt unbelievable today,” said Nimmo, who had urged fans to turn out. “It was high energy. Every pitch mattered and the crowd was in it the whole time.”

Philadelphia (92-63), which has lost two of the first three games of the four-game series, can secure its first NL East title since 2011 with a victory over the Mets on Sunday night. The Phillies clinched no worse than a wild card on Friday.

“We want to be able to get our division," slugger Kyle Schwarber said.

Manaea (12-5) retired 21 of 24 batters, allowing Schwarber’s record 15th leadoff home run of the season, Nick Castellanos’ tying homer in the fifth and J.T. Realmuto’s leadoff single in the eighth. The 32-year-old left-hander never pitched from the stretch, allowing three runs and three hits in seven-plus innings while striking out six. Manaea lasted at least 6 2/3 innings for the eighth straight start.

Cal Stevenson’s RBI grounder off Reed Garrett in the eighth pulled the Phillies within two runs. Díaz threw a called third strike past Schwarber on a full-count fastball and finished for his 19th save in 25 chances, his third four-out save this season.

With the score 2-all, Kerkering walked Starling Marte leading off the seventh and with one out hit Pete Alonso on the left shoulder blade with a 97 mph pitch.

Nimmo lofted a single into left-center for a 3-2 lead, ending the Mets’ 0-for-14 streak with runners in scoring position. Nimmo stole second and Alvarez doubled just beyond the glove of left fielder Weston Wilson, who tried for a diving catch.

Alvarez hit a 113.8 mph drive for his 11th home run this season and fifth in nine games. Acuña’s homer was the third in his first 24 big league at-bats.

Alonso added an RBI single in the eighth when his two-out pop fly to short center fell between Stevenson and second baseman Bryson Stott, who each thought the other would catch the ball.

Phillies starter Ranger Suárez allowed five hits and three walks in five innings. His fastball velocity averaged 92.5 mph, an increase of 0.7 mph.

“I made some adjustments that have helped me get my velocity back,” Suárez said though a translator.

New York benched J.D. Martinez, in a career-worst 0-for-31 slide. Mark Vientos stuck out a career-worst five times.

The Mets finished 5-5 this season in their new gray City Connect jerseys.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: OF Austin Hayes (kidney infection), sidelined since Sept. 1, was 2 for 5 with two strikeouts as the DH in his first game of a rehab assignment for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He is scheduled to play left field on Sunday. ... RHP Spencer Turnbull (strained right lat) is slated for a rehab outing with the IronPigs in their season finale Sunday.

Mets: RHP Kodai Senga pitched a hitless inning with a walk and two strikeouts for Triple-A Syracuse in his first rehab outing since straining his left calf in his season debut on July 26. He threw eight of 15 pitches for strikes. Senga missed the first half of the season because of a capsule shoulder strain that had sidelined him since spring training. ... RHP Paul Blackburn (spinal fluid leak in back) won’t pitch during the rest of the regular season, Mendoza said.

Zack Wheeler (16-6, 2.56 ERA) starts for the Phillies against his former team in Sunday night’s series finale. RHP Tylor Megill (4-5, 4.08) goes for the Mets.

How can I watch Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets?

TV Channel: Phillies at Mets 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on ERADM.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Mets: 54.2%

Phillies: 45.8%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Bohm grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Harper struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Turner grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	E. Alvarez at second base.
	9th Inning	Iglesias at third base.
	8th Inning	Nimmo grounded into fielder's choice to second, Alonso out at second.

Statistics

PHI		NYM
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
11	Ground Balls	12
8	Strikeouts	8
3	Runs Batted In	6
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
4	Hits	9
0	Stolen Bases	1
0	Walks	7
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	6
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
31	At Bats	33
2	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
4	Runners Left On Base	20
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	3
12	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	0
116	Pitches	159
0	Games Started	0
3	Pinch At Bats	0
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
10	Total Bases	18
31	Plate Appearances	41
324.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
2	Extra Base Hits	5
1.0	Runs Created	8.0
.129	Batting Average	.273
.333	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.323	Slugging Percentage	.545
.194	Secondary Average	.515
.129	On Base Percentage	.415
.452	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.960
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.9
1.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	9.0
22.0	Batter Rating	46.0
15.5	At Bats Per Home Run	16.5
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.74	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.88
.194	Isolated Power	.273
0.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.88
.000	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.171
.065	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.242
6.0	Runs Produced	12.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.7
0.1	Balls In Play Average	0.3
70.3	MLB Rating	92.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0