Mets avoid sweep with 6-5 extra-inning win against Phillies

After manager Carlos Mendoza held a brief team meeting following Wednesday’s less-than-stellar performance, the Mets responded on Thursday night with a 6-5 extra-inning win over the Philadelphia Phillies to avoid the sweep.

Here are the takeaways...

-For the second straight time, against these Phillies no less, Edwin Diaz blew a save opportunity after New York handed him a 4-3 lead going into the ninth inning. This time a leadoff walk and wild pitch put Diaz in immediate danger. Bryson Stott made him pay with a game-tying single. Diaz ultimately escaped the inning with no further damage, but he's looked considerably less dominant lately.

Neither team scored in the 10th inning, so it was off to the 11th inning where J.D. Martinez came through with a single that gave the Mets the lead once again. Harrison Bader's double put runners on second and third with nobody out and put the team in prime position to pile on. They didn't quite do that after Starling Marte and Mark Vientos struck out, but New York did get another run on Jose Alvarado's wild pitch that gave them a two-run cushion headed to the bottom of the 11th.

Facing Jake Diekman, who was going up against the team he made his MLB debut with in 2012 and who entered the game with 15 saves in 679 career appearances, the Phillies loaded the bases on the lefty and even scored a run, but that was all Diekman would surrender as he struck out Kyle Schwarber to end the game.

-The Mets hit some balls hard against Taijuan Walker in the first couple of innings, none harder (or farther) than Pete Alonso’s first-inning solo home run to center field that went 439 feet and came off the bat at 115.3 mph – the hardest hit ball by a New York player this season.

In the second, Marte had a hard-hit single up the middle and came around to score on Brett Baty’s scalded double down the right field line, out of the diving reach of first baseman Bryce Harper. Baty’s hit snapped an 0-for-14 skid and doubled the Mets’ lead.

-Walker ended up leaving the game after 3.1 innings following Marte’s second hit of the night – a well-struck comebacker that deflected off of Walker’s left foot. Facing Philadelphia’s bullpen earlier than expected, New York (much like Wednesday night, before it was too late) couldn’t tack on more runs as Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering and Gregory Soto pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, striking out five and giving up one hit before handing it off to the Phillies’ late-inning relievers.

-Jose Quintana got the ball for New York and after two straight uncharacteristically poor outings (following his best performance of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals where he went eight scoreless innings), the lefty bounced back with a solid start.

His night began with some good fortune, retiring the top of the order 1-2-3 despite three bullets off the bat. Francisco Lindor had a hand in that with a beautiful play on a hot shot up the middle for the second out of the inning, making up for his error on Wednesday night where he bobbled the ball on a routine chance for a double-play.

Things settled into place nicely after that for Quintana who retired 14 of 16 batters to start the game before hitting Edmundo Sosa with a pitch. No harm, no foul as the lefty got the next batter to roll over a pitch and the Mets got the force out to end the frame.

-With New York unable to extend their lead in the middle innings, keeping the Phillies within striking distance, all it took was a small opening which occurred in the sixth on back-to-back, one-out singles by JT Realmuto and Harper that ended Quintana’s night.

Reed Garrett came in for relief and on the first pitch, Alec Bohm stroked a single to left field to put Philadelphia on the board. Tyrone Taylor overthrew the cutoff man trying to nab the runner at home, which allowed the runners to advance to second and third with one out. Another run came around to score on a sacrifice fly and just like that, the game was tied at two with both runs charged to Quintana.

Quintana’s final line: 5.1 innings, four hits, two earned runs, four strikeouts and no walks.

Back out there for a second inning, Garrett started the seventh with back-to-back strikeouts, but a two-out walk to Stott proved costly after Schwarber doubled down the right field line that drove in Stott all the way from first base and gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead.

-In danger of getting swept, the Mets were gifted a leadoff baserunner by the Phillies after Stott, who just scored the lead run, made an error on Taylor’s groundball to short. A stolen base and a walk put runners on first and second, but it looked like another rally would be crushed after Lindor and Martinez struck out.

However, in his first at-bat since entering the game as a pinch-runner, Bader delivered a game-tying base hit and put the go-ahead run on third base. New York took the lead on Jeff Hoffman’s very next pitch after the reliever uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Alonso and putting the Mets ahead 4-3.

Game MVP: Jorge Lopez

-Lopez came on to pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tie game after the Mets were unable to drive in their free runner and did the same to the Phillies. After walking his first batter, Lopez got a ground ball double play before a flyout sent the game to the 11th where the Mets eventually won it.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets continue their eight-game road trip with three games against the Miami Marlins over the weekend, starting on Friday at 7:10 p.m.

RHP Christian Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA) will pitch for New York, opposite LHP Jesus Luzardo (0-3, 5.97 ERA).