The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Alonso belts 30th HR in loss to Philadelphia
NEWYORK — Aaron Nola held the Mets hitless into the sixth inning, Jay Bruce homered twice and the Philadelphia Phillies quieted New York with an 83 victory Sunday.
Rookie Pete Alonso hit his 30th home run to break up Nola’s nohit bid.
Bruce drove in four runs against his former team and Rhys Hoskins homered as the Phillies took two of three in the series.
The Phils headed into the AllStar break at 4743 — they were 5342 at this point last year, before adding Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Andrew McCutchen and more in an offseason push.
The feuding NL East rivals kept their cool and there were no warnings from the umpires, a day after a tense game in which Jake Arrieta hit Todd Frazier and later said if the Mets veteran was still upset, “he can come see me and I’ll put a dent in his skull.”
Hoskins was hit in the left thigh by a pitch from relieverWilmer Font in the seventh. As fans cheered, Hoskins spun around and slung a leg guard toward the dugout, then took his base without incident.
In April, Mets reliever Jacob Rhame was suspended two games and fined for zinging two fastballs over Hoskins’ head, apparent retaliation for two Mets getting drilled.
Hoskins later got even, homering off Rhame and taking an amazingly slow trot around the bases. This time, Hoskins homered in the ninth and routinely went about his business.
Nola (82) extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings before Alonso hit a tworun drive with one out. The righthander allowed three hits in 62⁄ innings — 3 he has never pitched a complete game as a pro, totaling 112 starts in the majors and 31 in the minors.
ZackWheeler (66) was tagged for six runs in fiveplus innings, an outing that definitely didn’t enhance his trade value as the July 31 deadline approaches.
The Mets went into the break at 4050, not what they imagined after adding Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Jed Lowrie and others in the offseason.
Hoskins hit an RBI double, Realmuto followed with a tworun double and Bruce had an RBI single in the first.
Bruce hit a tworun homer that finishedWheeler in the sixth and connected in the eighth for his 28th career multihomer game and third this year. The Mets traded Bruce to Seattle in the winter as part of a package for Cano and Diaz, the Mariners dealt him to the Phillies in June.
Adeiny Hechavarria connected for his first pinchhit homer in the Mets ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: OF Michael Conforto (back) entered in the seventh inning. Manager Mickey Callaway said Conforto should be OK to start after the break.
PHILLIES 8 METS 3