Mets lose seventh straight, fall into second place as Phillies beat up bullpen
Mets infielder Francisco Lindor against the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. Credit: Imagn Images/Kyle Ross
PHILADELPHIA — The location has changed, but the horrors persist.
After getting burned in Atlanta, the Mets trekked to Philadelphia battered, bruised and playing against stacked odds that belie the fact that they entered Friday tied with the Phillies for first place in the NL East.
Their deeply slumping offense had the unpleasant assignment of facing the proverbial one that got away in former Met Zack Wheeler. And, because of mounting injuries and this relentless stretch of 13 straight games, they were forced to throw prospect Blade Tidwell against one of the best offenses in baseball.
It went about as well as you would expect.
Tidwell walked over the fiery coals as best he could, but the Phillies feasted on Reed Garrett and Justin Garza as the Mets dropped the series opener, 10-2, at Citizens Bank Park.
Afterward, manager Carlos Mendoza listed the elements that have keyed their seven-game losing streak, their longest since June 2023.
“The starting pitcher not going deep into games” was one.
“The bullpen” was another.
“We’re having a hard time scoring” was the third.
So to recap: The Mets can’t score runs and can’t prevent them.
The result? “We’re going through it,” Mendoza said.
Are they ever.
Down by two in the sixth, the Mets (45-31) showed a little spark thanks to back-to-back solo homers by Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, but Garrett and Garza paid that back with interest, giving up six runs in the seventh. Nick Castellanos (3-for-5) added a two-run homer off Garza in the eighth.
The Mets are out of first for the first time since May 30 and have been outscored 22-3 in their last three games.
Garrett, who was automatic earlier this season but has given up five runs in his last three appearances, didn’t record a single out in the seventh.
Brandon Marsh doubled and Trea Turner doubled him home to break the 2-2 tie. Kyle Schwarber walked and Alec Bohm hit a sharp single to right to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead and force Garrett out of the game.
Garza promptly allowed an RBI single by Castellanos. A walk loaded the bases with one out and brought up Bryson Stott, who blasted a three-run double 394 feet to left-center to put the Phillies up 8-2.
The Mets trailed by two in the sixth when Alonso smashed Taijuan Walker’s cutter 429 feet to straightaway center. It was his 18th homer and puts him eight shy of Darryl Strawberry’s franchise-leading 252. Three pitches later, McNeil homered to right to tie it.
The Mets had scored a single run in their previous 28 innings.
“We’re just not playing clean baseball,” Alonso said. “It’s not our standard. How we’ve been playing doesn’t match the talent or the standards that we set for ourselves. You have good runs, you have great runs during this season, and obviously, this is not one of our best . . . It’s been a poor showing these past seven games.”
One (moderate) bright spot was Tidwell, who at least improved from his MLB debut in May, when he was walloped by the Cardinals. He gave up two runs, four hits and three walks in 3 2⁄3 innings, striking out four.
Tidwell looked sharp in the early innings and did it under difficult circumstances: The big righty found out he’d be starting at about 10 p.m. Thursday — the result of Tylor Megill’s elbow sprain, Kodai Senga’s hamstring strain and the fact that the presumed Friday starter, Justin Hagenman, was conscripted into duty in the sixth inning of the Mets’ 7-1 loss to Atlanta on Thursday. He had only hours to study up on how to face one of the better offenses in baseball.
“I hopped in the car and got here as fast as I could,” he said. “I was about to get on Fortnite.”
Thankfully, he learned how to cram in school. “I was a procrastinator,” he said.
Tidwell, who has a 4.79 ERA in 13 games with Triple-A Syracuse this year, showed positive flashes before allowing two singles and walking Stott to load the bases with one out in the fourth. Otto Kemp then hit a high-hopping grounder to Brett Baty, who got the forceout at second as a run scored, ending Tidwell’s night. Marsh’s single off Jose Castillo made it 2-0.
“As a group, whether it’s defensively, offensively, we’re not necessarily in sync on either side of the ball,” Alonso said. “We just need to be better, but the funny thing about baseball is it’s nine innings, and every moment, whether it’s good or bad, is fleeting.”
The Mets, formerly the best team in baseball, are on the dark side of that equation right now. The question is whether they can find their way back to the light.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
