The Phillies showed some resiliency, but fell to the New York Mets in an 11-inning 6-5 loss on Thursday night. They split this two-game homestand with New York, and now are 31-14 on the season.
A lot went wrong in this one. Taijuan Walker departed his start early with a left foot contusion because of a hard-hit single that deflected off of his foot in the fourth inning. The offense largely was quiet until the later innings and did not hit well with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-15.
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The Phillies lineup only recorded two hits against starter Jose Quintana over his first five innings.
Once Quintana exited, with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth, the Phillies pounced. They tacked on two runs in the sixth, and Kyle Schwarber’s RBI double brought in one run in the seventh. It was his 400th career extra-base hit..
“He did a good job tonight,” Schwarber said of Quintana. “Some things didn’t go our way off of him, but I’m happy that we were able to keep going and get it off the other relievers.”
Jeff Hoffman came in for the eighth. Tyrone Taylor and Pete Alonso reached via an error and a walk, respectively. Bryson Stott, who committed the throwing error, was playing shortstop. Hoffman struck out the next two Mets but allowed a game-tying RBI single to Harrison Bader. Alonso then scored on a wild pitch to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.
José Ruiz put his team in a position to win, but the Phillies were unable to capitalize on it. The journeyman right-handed reliever, whom the Phillies quietly signed to a minor-league contract in November, pitched two hitless, scoreless innings, while striking out three. It was no small feat, particularly against the heart of the Mets lineup, with a ghost runner on second base to start the 10th.
But Ruiz got the job done.
“Tremendous,” manager Rob Thomson said of Ruiz. “I mean, he’s given us those two innings … we sent him back out because really we had two innings left after that, we had [José] Alvarado and Seranthony [Domínguez]. And he was so good in the first inning, [getting] swing and miss; the curveball was just a great pitch. Plus, he was 96-97 mph. He did an unbelievable job.”
The Phillies faced Edwin Diaz in the bottom of the ninth, only three days after knocking him around in an extra-innings win at Citi Field. Diaz’s command hadn’t improved much in his outing on Thursday. He allowed a leadoff walk to Brandon Marsh to start the inning. Marsh advanced to second on a wild pitch. .
After Kody Clemens struck out, Stott hit an RBI single to tie the game in the ninth. Schwarber struck out, and J.T. Realmuto lined out to send the game into extra innings.
After Ruiz shut down the Mets in the top of the tenth, the Phillies recorded two quick outs. Mets reliever Jorge López intentionally walked Bryce Harper, and Bohm grounded into a double play. Nick Castellanos lined out to send it to the 11th inning.
“I mean, they did the right thing by walking Harper and playing for the double play,” Thomson said. “I’m not going to bunt there with our best RBI man. It’s the way it goes.”
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Alvarado pitched the 11th. He allowed an RBI single to J.D. Martinez to give the Mets a 5-4 lead, and a double put runners on second and third. After recording back-to-back strikeouts, Martinez scored on a wild pitch to give the Mets an insurance run.
Whit Merrifield lined out in the bottom of the 11th. Marsh hit a ball down the line that Alonso knocked down, and flipped to first, but not in time. Clemens then walked to load the bases, and Stott grounded into a force out to score Castellanos from third base. But Schwarber struck out to end the game.
“You come up twice, with the game on the line, and you’re not able to come through, it gets frustrating,” Schwarber said. “You want to thrive in those spots. And, unfortunately, wasn’t able to tonight. We were resilient the whole night and kept trying to come back and just weren’t able to get that big one at the end.”
