The Mets deliver a blow to the Phillies, who absolutely need to win in Game 2

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies are playing their eighth postseason series in the last three years.

Over the past seven years, they have started 1-0, a key to their run to the World Series in 2022 and the National League Championship Series in 2023. Five of those Game 1 wins have come on the road.

But on Saturday afternoon, the Phillies took a hit in the face from the New York Mets when they saw a tenuous 1-0 lead evaporate in the eighth inning and lost 6-2 to their National League East rivals .

The teams meet in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series on Sunday when the Mets’ Luis Severino takes on the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez. A win in New York would send it back to Citi Field with a chance to win the series.

In several of those Game 1 wins, the Phillies used their No. 3 starter from the wild-card round to shut down the other teams’ rested ace. They did it with Atlanta’s Max Fried in 2022 and Spencer Strider in 2023.

Similarly, the Mets stole a game started by Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who could hardly have been better at throwing one-hit ball for seven innings to give the bullpen a 1-0 lead. The Mets countered with spot starter Kodai Senga, who went two innings before leaving four New York relievers, including starter David Peterson.

The Mets stole a game that the Phillies were heavily favored to win and now hold the cards for the future. The biggest advantage the Phillies had in the series was Wheeler in Game 1 and it was ultimately squandered.

“It’s tough, it’s not about where you want to be,” said Wheeler, who would pitch again if the series heads to a win-or-win Game 5 next Friday. “We have a really good team and we need to come out and win a ballgame. It’s best-of-five, first to three, and we have to win one (Sunday). We’re at home and we need to get this separation done.”

Read any narrative in this series and mentions of the bullpen always end with the Phillies having a clear advantage. They have two All-Stars in Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm, a rising star in Orion Kerkering and the final piece of the championship puzzle in Carlos Estevez, acquired at the trade deadline.

But on Saturday, Hoffman and Strahm faltered. Hoffman allowed a single to Francisco Alvarez, walked Francisco Lindor and allowed a game-winning double to Mark Vientos.

The right-hander faced all three batters and had two strikes against Lindor and Vientos.

“Of course I would have liked to have put it away and moved on and stayed ahead, but it happens,” Hoffman said. “I have to do better (Sunday). It stinks because we definitely want to capitalize on an outing like this and (Wheeler) did everything he could to keep us ahead. He did an incredible job, so we’ll try to stick to that next time.”

Strahm entered the game with second and third and no outs. He threw 17 pitches and each one was a strike – but he allowed an RBI single in a left-to-left matchup against Brandon Nimmo, a Pete Alonso sacrifice fly and a Jose Iglesias single.

“They smelled blood in the water, got rowdy and (I) got caught,” Strahm said. “I’ve said it my entire career. I throw strikes, I attack and you get 0-2 hits. I usually get out very quickly and am often available. We don’t think we need a lot of (run support), but the ball team over there is fierce and they got us.”

JD Martinez scored a run single off Kerkering and the Mets had a 5-1 lead that silenced Citizens Bank Park.

“Yeah, it was amazing to see Hoffy and Strahmy give up like that,” admitted Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “But that’s baseball sometimes. They actually haven’t done that since we got them.”

Kyle Schwarber hit Kodai Senga’s third pitch for a 425-foot home run, but the Phillies didn’t score again until Kody Clemens hit a two-out double with two outs in the ninth.

The Phillies will rely on their bullpen to get the last six outs any day, but sitting with a 1-0 lead for so long almost felt like the Mets were ready to finally break out. They did so against one of baseball’s best bullpens, putting one of the World Series favorites in a rare 1-0 hole.

“Wheels, of course, what can you say, man?” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said. “He threw the crap out of the game, and as an offense we wasted that start by chasing balls in the dirt and not counting deep enough. We need to understand what they want to do to us and immediately flip the switch as a crime.

“They’ll bury stuff and make us hunt as much as we can. We have to get better. (Is it a) gut punch? It is what it is. It’s baseball. At the end of the day, we want to win games and we didn’t do that tonight.”

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Bill Evans can be reached at [email protected].