Mets' bats go cold, Edwin Diaz allows ninth-inning in 2-1 loss to Phillies

Mets’ bats go cold, Edwin Diaz allows ninth-inning in 2-1 loss to Phillies

The Mets lost 2-1 in Philadelphia to the Phillies on Sunday, as Edwin Diaz gave up a walk-off single to J.T. Realmuto in the bottom of the ninth inning.

New York dropped the final two games of the three-game series to fall to 81-68 on the year.

Here are the key takeaways…

– The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning on Tyrone Taylor’s home run off Christopher Sanchez but the Phillies scored in the eighth off David Peterson and the ninth off Diaz to win the game.

Nick Castellanos singled off Diaz to start the ninth-inning rally, and then surprised the Mets by stealing second. That set the stage for Realmuto to deliver a line-drive single to the right-center gap, getting on top of an 0-2 fastball at the top of the strike zone.

The Mets had the option of intentionally walking Realmuto, who was 5-for-13 with a home run against Diaz.

– Peterson bounced back in a big way from his poor start last week in Toronto, holding the Phillies to one run over 7 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season.

The left-hander shut out the Phils for seven innings before giving up a run in the eighth on back-to-back doubles by Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy.

After a sacrifice bunt, Peterson got Kyle Schwarber to ground to Jose Iglesias at second, preventing the Kennedy from scoring. Carlos Mendoza then brought in Phil Maton, who got Trea Turner to pop out to shallow right field to end the inning.

With the strong start, Peterson lowered his ERA to 2.85.

– Francisco Lindor started and got a bloop single in the first inning but then left the game after the bottom of the first due to the back injury he incurred on Friday night.

Lindor missed Saturday’s game, the first time this season he has been out of the lineup. Mendoza said Lindor had to go through “a series of exercises” just to try and get the back ready to play, indicating it could be more than a tweak.

While in the game on Sunday, he ran gingerly to first base on his single, seemingly being careful not to aggravate the back injury.

– The Mets had only seven hits as their offense continues to sputter. Taylor’s home run was their only extra-base hit of the season.

Since scoring four early runs on Saturday against Kolby Allard, the Mets have scored only one run in their last 15 innings.

– Mark Vientos struck out four times and went 0-for-4 on the day day, as he continues to slump, now 2-for-30 over his last eight games.

But Vientos did make an outstanding defensive play at third base in the seventh inning, moving to his left to grab Alec Bohm’s hard-hit ground ball, and spinning to make a perfect, one-hop throw to Pete Alonso.

Highlights

Who was the game MVP?

Realmuto. With two outs in the ninth, Realmuto came up clutch for the Phillies. The Phillies’ catcher is having a sub-par season but has always been considered a tough out in big spots.