The Mets and Braves entered the race today tied for the third wild card spot in the National League. After their 2-1 loss to the Phillies, the Mets are now at the mercy of the Braves to determine their place in the wild card race in the penultimate week of the regular season.
The returning Francisco Lindor opened the game with a single to shallow center that Johan Rojas almost caught, but he couldn’t reach it. It ultimately became meaningless as Lindor was held up by three strikeouts from Cristopher Sánchez.
Unfortunately, Lindor only played one more half inning before being taken out of the game for Luisangel Acuña. As discussed before the game, he probably would have missed a few games if this was an injury that happened earlier in the season, but he didn’t want to be benched during the playoff push. Hopefully, Lindor will be back after a day or two of rest.
David Peterson and Sánchez both lived up to their reputation today, keeping their opponents not only off the board but also mostly out of the running lanes.
No one broke through until the top of the eighth inning, when Tyrone Taylor – who was in the lineup because Starling Marte was out yesterday after being hit by a pitch – hit a solo home run against Sánchez to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
However, the Phillies caught up in the bottom half of the inning. Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 1-1. With two outs and Kennedy on third base, Peterson was subbed for Phil Maton, who did his job by getting Trea Turner to fly out and end the inning.
After the Mets failed to score in the ninth inning, Edwin Díaz came in for the rescue attempt. Nick Castellanos hit a one-out single and stole second base after Alec Bohm’s strikeout to bring the winning run to second base with two outs. JT Realmuto then hit a single to center, scoring Castellanos and winning the game for Philly.
Tomorrow the Mets will start a series against the Nationals, the last home game of the year. Sean Manaea and Jake Irvin will face off at 7:10 p.m.
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