Phils: Masters of Mets’ domain
Bullpen blows up again in latest painful loss to Philly
Jacob deGrom has pitched seven straight quality starts and only has one win to show for it.
The Mets ace dazzled the packed-out crowd on ‘Seinfeld Night’ and recorded his 32nd career double-digit strikeout game in the Mets’ 7-2 loss against the Phillies on Friday at Citi Field. The same could not be said for closer Edwin Diaz, who faced five batters and only retired one while gifting the Phillies the lead in a pivotal ninth inning. Diaz was charged with four earned runs on three hits with one walk and one strikeout as his ERA swelled to 5.67.
“The one thing we always try to do is try to use our personnel the best we can. If somebody steps up and is getting the job done better in that role, then we’d consider it probably,” Mickey Callaway said on replacing Diaz as the Mets closer.
Diaz took the hill on a 2-2 tied game that quickly vanished from the Mets’ grasp. He opened the ninth with a leadoff double to left field then coughed up a go-ahead RBI single to ex-Met Jay Bruce for a 3-2 Phillies lead. Diaz walked the next batter and struck out Maikel Franco, but allowed another RBI single to pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez. Mickey Callaway had seen enough and Diaz exited to a barrage of boos.
Jeurys Familia followed and scored his inherited runners on back-to-back run-scoring doubles. For Diaz, much of his regression lies in the numbers. The 24-year-old has allowed 21 earned runs over 36 relief appearances this season — five more earned runs than he gave up over 73 games for the Mariners last year. Diaz said he doesn’t have an answer for his inconsistency this year, but he hasn’t been able to put up zeros in more than three outings in a row.
“I want to be the closer of this team,” Diaz said, through interpreter Alan Suriel, on switching to a different relief role. “But if Mickey thinks that that’s the way I can find confidence or just feel more comfortable trying to get right, I’ll pitch in whatever role that he wants me to.”
DeGrom gave up a first-pitch home run to Scott Kingery on a 97 mile-per-hour fastball that perished in the top of the strike zone. The right-hander righted the ship and retired 18 of his next 20 batters. DeGrom fanned Bryce Harper in his first at-bat, then whiffed him the next two times as the disgruntled Phillies’ superstar three times came up empty handed. In line for a win, deGrom instead ran into trouble in the seventh inning when he issued a leadoff walk to Rhys Hoskins and a double to J.T. Realmuto.
Pete Alonso helped the Mets put up a 2-1 lead over the Phillies with a solo shot for his 29th homer of the year in the fourth inning and an RBI double in the fifth. But deGrom’s inability to escape the seventh inning with two runners on base negated that lead.
Cesar Hernandez hit a soft dribbler down the third-base line and Todd Frazier went home with it in an attempt to throw out Hoskins at the plate. Hoskins was called safe, but the Mets were quizzical. Mickey Callaway stormed out of the dugout and asked for a crewchief review, but the umpires are only allowed to initiate such a review from the eighth inning on.
The Mets had already wasted their challenge on a caught stealing in the second inning, so they had to live with the result. The Phillies had tied the game at 2-2 and deGrom exited having given up two earned runs on three hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts over seven innings and 102 pitches.
“I said to the umpire, ‘There’s no way we can look at this?’ And he said, ‘No, the eighth inning,’” deGrom said. “I was pretty close there and I had a good feeling he was out. But we were out of challenges. That’s not an ideal way to lose (the lead).”