The New York Mets managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against the Philadelphia Phillies thanks to an 8th inning that can only be described as Mets-ian.
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
ABOVE PHOTO: Philadelphia Phillies’ Trea Turner (7) is cheered by Nick Castellanos, right, after he hit a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, June 25, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Originally, this column was going to be about how the New York Mets still owned the Philadelphia Phillies despite both teams going in opposite directions during June.
But that was before an 8th inning in which the Mets did something so Mets-ian that #MetsTwitter was almost speechless.
In what has to be one of the most bizarre innings of baseball that I have seen in quite some time, the Phillies scored four runs thanks to just one hit, three walks, one error, and two hit batters to come away with an improbable 7-6 win over the Mets in front a sell-out crowd of 42, 901 at Citizens Bank Park.
Coming into the bottom of the eighth of Sunday’s series finale, the Mets had a 6-3 lead and seemed to be on their way to another series win over a Phils team that hasn’t won a series against them since September 2021.
Mets reliever Josh Walker was on the mound in the eighth and had issues getting people out from the start. He started the inning by walking designated hitter Bryce Harper and followed by giving up a base hit to catcher J.T. Realmuto, who had been struggling at the plate all day.
Walker walked second baseman Bryson Stott walked to load the bases. Then, first baseman Alec Bohm hit into what should have been a routine double play, but because Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil dropped the throw from Mets third baseman Brett Baty, not only was it not a double play, Harper scored from third to make the score 6-4 with no outs.
Mets manager Buck Showalter decided that he had seen enough from Walker and decided to bring in reliever Jeff Brigham.
The move didn’t change things. Brigham’s walked centerfielder Brandon Marsh with the bases loaded to make the score 6-5. He then struck out pinch-hitter Cody Clemens.
The Phillies took the lead for good when Brigham hit left-fielder Kyle Schwarber in the knee and shortstop Trea Turner on his backside to put the Phillies ahead 7-6.
But even before the eighth inning, Turner had made an impact on the game. He started the Phillies scoring with a home run, stole two bases, and had two runs batted in. Other than that, the Phillies struggled offensively. They were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Phillies closer Craig Kimbrell shut the door on the Mets by retiring the last three batters in order after hitting New York first baseman Pete Alonso to begin the inning.
As I was heading to the media room for Phillies manager Rob Thomson’s press conference, a Mets beat writer told me that it was typical of how the 2023 Mets tend to get in the way of themselves.
And when you play against teams that want to help you beat them, you definitely have to take advantage of that, Thompson said.
“It didn’t look good,” he said. “We had some really good at-bats in the eighth inning and we got fortunate, too … Our guys kept grinding and got a W. You got to take advantage of it …You have to take advantage of the situation.”
What made that eighth inning a winner for the Phillies was the fact that they did something that they hadn’t really done all day: practice patience at the plate. On a day where the team practically lived outside the strike zone, the team didn’t chase any bad pitches in the many bases-loaded situations they were given in the eighth.
“You kinda watch the game and see that (Walker) was struggling. Watching (Harper’s) at bat and stuff like that you saw that he was losing it up in the strike zone,” Stott said. “You never want to do too much. It’s kind of a natural thing to do, but to tone that down and take walks was big.”
Back in 2008, I interviewed former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil for a story on the anniversary of the Miracle in the Meadowlands. For those who don’t remember that game, it’s when safety Herman Edwards recovered a New York Giants fumble and scored the game-winning touchdown for the Birds in the waning seconds of what should have been a victory for the Giants.
The thing he told me in that interview is that in sports, “You’re going to win games you deserve to lose and lose games that you deserve to win.”
That was the Phils’ win on Sunday in a nutshell.
The Phillies head to Chicago to take on the Cubs, who are on their way back from London where they took two out of three from the St. Louis Cardinals. You can catch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia starting at 8:05 p.m.
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