JEFF TO THE RESCUE
McNeil HR helps Mets snap skid
METS 3
PHILLIES 2
Jeff McNeil made sure his first home run in seven weeks was a game changer.
The second baseman-turned-left fielder scorched a 417-foot no-doubter into the bullpen in the seventh inning. It was his first home run since Aug. 1 – a span of 43 games and 148 atbats – and it gave the Mets their first lead since last Tuesday.
“I’ve done it for three years, I’ve done it for over a thousand at-bats, I know I’m a pretty good hitter,” said McNeil, who is hitting .252 with a .683 OPS this season. “A few hundred atbats doesn’t make me a bad hitter at all. I’ve taken some very good at-bats this year, just haven’t had the results that have been there in the past.”
Following dominant performances from the bullpen’s 1-2 punch of Aaron Loup and Edwin Diaz, McNeil’s seventh home run of the year allowed the Mets to roll ahead for a 3-2 victory over the Phillies on Sunday night at Citi Field.
The Mets (73-77) avoided a sweep with the win, which also snapped their five-game losing streak dating back to last Monday. The Amazin’s trimmed their deficit in the division to 5.5 games behind the Braves, who beat the Giants. The Mets, though, are still seven games behind for the final wild-card spot with 12 games left to play.
“We want this to carry over,” said manager Luis Rojas. “We gotta keep scoring, and Jeff’s going to be a big part of our offense if he gets hot now to beat the teams that we’re going to play against.”
Loup lowered his ERA to 1.00 with 1.1 scoreless innings in his 62nd outing of the year. As of Sunday, Loup owned the lowest ERA in MLB among pitchers with at least 40 innings logged. The next lowest? Jacob deGrom’s 1.08 ERA in 92 innings.
“I’ve had a blast playing here,” Loup said of pitching for the Mets.
The left-hander jogged in from the pen in the seventh inning in a big spot: tie game, runners on first and second and Bryce Harper at the plate. Harper’s major-league leading 1.056 OPS even daunted Loup. He pitched around Harper, eventually sending him to first on a sixpitch walk. But Loup retired the next batter, J.T. Realmuto, on a ground ball to escape the jam he inherited from Seth Lugo.
“I don’t watch too much baseball or pay too much attention because I don’t have social media, but I feel like he’s probably not getting talked about enough this year,” Loup said of Harper. “He’s having a great year. MVP candidate. Any time he’s at the plate, it’s something I love. I love facing the best guys because I feel like it brings out the best in me.”