Bryce Harper hit two home runs, Cal Stevenson hit a two-run double to lead the seventh inning and made a point-saving, spectacular catch in the eighth inning, and the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies caught up on Saturday, cooling off the New York Mets with a 6-4 win.
JT Realmuto hit an RBI double for the Phillies, who have won 10 of 13 games and are eight games ahead of the Mets in the division. The teams will complete the three-game series on Sunday afternoon before the Mets host the Phillies for four games Sept. 19-22.
Starling Marte hit a single, a triple and scored three runs, and Luisangel Acuña had two singles in his major league debut for the Mets, who lost for just the third time in their last 15 games. New York began play Saturday with the last wild-card spot in the National League, one game ahead of the Braves.
With his team trailing 4-0, Harper hit the first of his two drives against starter Luis Severino with one out in the fourth inning, a 397-foot drive to the outfield after an 85-mph changeup. He cut Philadelphia to 4-3 in the sixth inning with a two-run shot after an 87-mph slider that ended in a 3-2 count. The two-time NL MVP, who hadn’t hit a home run since Aug. 9, has hit 28 home runs this year.
Philadelphia took the lead in the seventh. Danny Young (4-1) allowed two singles to start the inning by Bryson Stott and Realmuto, both of whom advanced on Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice bunt. Young slammed his glove and cap on the bench in the New York dugout in frustration after being lifted by manager Carlos Mendoza for Reed Garrett.
Garrett struck out pinch-hitter Weston Wilson before Stevenson hit a 3-2, 92-mph cutter to the wall in right to score Stott and Realmuto.
Jeff Hoffman threw a scoreless eighth inning and Carlos Estévez finished it off in the ninth with his 26th save in 31 chances and sixth in eight attempts since joining the Phillies before the trade deadline.
Hoffman got some help from Stevenson in center field when he stole a home run from JD Martinez with a diving catch off the wall for the first out in the eighth inning.
Orion Kerkering (5-2) managed a 1-2-3 seventh inning after Taijuan Walker threw three scoreless innings as a replacement for starter Kolby Allard.
New York gave Severino a four-run lead. Marte worked a bases-loaded walk in the first inning before hitting a two-run triple against Allard in the Mets’ three-run third inning to continue his success against Philadelphia. Marte has a career batting average of .375 against the Phillies.
Allard, the fourth different No. 5 starter to make as many appearances in the rotation, lasted just three innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Walker, whom the Phillies signed as a free agent for four years and $72 million ahead of the 2023 season, excelled in his new role after being demoted to the bullpen due to his ineffectiveness as a starter.
Acuña got his first hit on a single to center field by Walker that led off the fourth inning and a single to center field by Estévez that started the ninth inning. Acuña, a younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., is one of the organization’s top prospects, batting .258 with 40 steals while splitting time between second base, shortstop and center field at Triple-A Syracuse.
Acuña, 22, started at shortstop and batted ninth. He came over when the Mets traded Max Scherzer to Texas in July 2023. Acuña was promoted a day after All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor left Friday night’s 11-3 win over the Phillies in the seventh inning because of lower back pain. Mendoza said the move was a precautionary measure.
Severino allowed three runs on six hits, five strikeouts and one walk in six innings. The 30-year-old right-hander made the Yankees’ All-Star team twice before signing a one-year, $13 million deal with the Mets in the offseason after an injury-plagued season and a 6.65 ERA in 2023.
TRAINING ROOM
Phillies: 3B Alec Bohm (left hand strain) and INF Edmundo Sosa (back spasms) played in rehab assignments for Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Harper winced while batting in the eighth inning and strained his right arm. He recently told MLB.com that he played with a sore wrist and a sore right elbow.
Mets: Marte was hit in the left forearm by a 95-mph sinker from Hoffman in the eighth inning but stayed in the game.
Next
Mets LHP David Peterson (9-2, 2.98) will face Philadelphia LHP Cristopher Sánchez (10-9, 3.33) in the finale of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
