The eighth inning proved to be a decisive one, as the Mets allowed three Phillies runs and lost the final game of their series in Philadelphia by a score of 5-2. >> Box score
Five takeaways from Sunday's game
1) With the game tied at two in the bottom of the eighth, the combination of Daniel Zamora and Jeurys Familia was unable to keep the score even. Zamora started the inning, allowed a single to Bryce Harper and was replaced by Familia. The right-hander ended up loading the bases for Scott Kingery, who delivered a bases-clearing double to provide the difference in the score.
2) Just before allowing the Phillies to re-take the lead, the Mets took advantage of the Phillies bullpen. Zach Elfin started for Philadelphia and tossed a very strong seven innings. But on came Mike Morin for the eighth, who allowed a single to Todd Frazier, walked Brandon Nimmo and gave up a sacrifice bunt to Luis Guillorme. With runners on second and third and one out, Morin gave way to Hector Neris, who got Jeff McNeil to ground to first as Frazier was nabbed at the plate. Nimmo got to third on the play, however, and scored when Neris uncorked a wild pitch on ball four to Michael Conforto.
3) Marcus Stroman looked shaky at the outset of the game, but recovered nicely for his first quality start as a member of the Mets. In the first, Rhys Hoskins singled to right and Corey Dickerson looked to score from second, but was thrown out on a laser from Michael Conforto. In the second, Brad Miller homered and Dickerson added an RBI single to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. But it was relative smooth sailing for Stroman the rest of the way. He finished his outing with six-plus innings pitched, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
4) Pete Alonso got the Mets out to an early 1-0 lead with a line drive homer to left off of Eflin in the first inning. He is nine away from the all-time rookie record for home runs. Alonso also remains tied for the NL lead in home runs with Cody Bellinger, who also hit a home run of his own against the Diamondbacks on Sunday. Alonso came close to a second home run in the seventh inning, which would have tied the game, but his long fly ball to left was caught at the warning track.
5) With a double down the third-base line in the third inning, Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 25 games. He passed Mike Piazza for the longest in franchise history for a catcher, and now has the third-longest of any Met, trailing David Wright (26) and Moises Alou (30).
Highlights
He just took a
- SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2019
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THAT PETE
(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/2Y2TnyYm7O
What's next
The Mets start a three-game series with the Washington Nationals on Monday at 1:05 p.m. at Nationals Park. RHP Noah Syndergaard (9-7, 4.14 ERA) will start for the Mets, while RHP Joe Ross (3-3, 5.36 ERA) gets the start for the Nationals.