Categories: 2019 Postgame Recaps

Phillies rally for walk-off win in ninth to finish sweep

Aaron Nola turned in a strong performance Thursday afternoon. (Ian D’Andrea)

A wild ninth inning that swung from a 1-0 Phillies lead to a 3-1 deficit in a matter of seconds eventually swung back the Phillies way on Thursday afternoon against the Mets.

Todd Frazier took Héctor Neris deep for a two-run, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, which they soon pushed to 3-1.

Then Maikel Franco answered off Edwin Díaz to tie it in the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies got two runners aboard, and Jean Segura took Díaz out to left for a three-run, walk-off home run to give the Phils (43-38) a sweep of the Mets (37-45) at Citizens Bank Park.

Aaron Nola struck out 10 over seven excellent innings, and Bryce Harper broke a scoreless tie with a bomb to center field off Zack Wheeler, but Frazier touched Neris for a one-out homer in the ninth.

Frazier’s homer quieted Citizens Bank Park and sucked a lot of the momentum out of what had been, otherwise, a phenomenal series for the Phillies. Then, as soon as Franco unloaded to left center field, that momentum and that energy were back.

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Nola started off as well as he could — he struck out Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso

and Michael Conforto to pitch a 1-2-3 first inning. The Phillies got a baserunner in the bottom of the inning, but they couldn’t score.

Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the second inning, with Nola fanning Wilson Ramos on a nice 3-2 changeup to end the inning, and the Mets Amed Rosario robbing César Hernández of a base hit with a leaping catch.

Nola worked around an error from Franco and, despite hitting McNeil with two out, got out of the third without any runs on the board. Wheeler walked Andrew Knapp on 10 pitches, and Nola reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the inning, but Scott Kingery, Jean Segura and Harper went down in order.

After Nola set down the Mets in order in the fourth, the same thing occurred: Rhys Hoskins walked on 10 pitches, and the next three Phillies swung at the first pitch, and they all made outs.

Nola breezed through the fifth; so did Wheeler. In the sixth, a stellar play from Segura robbed Frazier, ending the inning and keeping the Mets off the board.

Harper took Wheeler deep to center with one out in the bottom of the sixth, breaking the scoreless tie:

Nola struck out two more in a 1-2-3 seventh inning, finishing his excellent outing at 102 pitches. He allowed just one hit. The Phillies got the first two men on in the bottom of the inning against Brooks Pounders, but pinch-hitter Brad Miller struck out, and Kingery struck out to end the inning.

Juan Nicasio set the Mets down in order in the top of the eighth, and Chris Flexen did the same to the Phillies.

In the ninth, Neris allowed a one-out single to Michael Conforto right before Frazier teed off on a 3-2 pitch, sending it deep to left for a go-ahead homer. Dominic Smith and Ramos lined singles, and that was it for Neris, who was pitching for a third straight game. J.D. Hammer couldn’t keep it a one-run game, allowing a soft groundout that brought home a run charged to Neris’ line.

Hernández walked to lead off the 10th inning, and Franco tied it quickly on a blast to left-center:

With one down, Sean Rodríguez walked, Scott Kingery laced a single, and Segura walked it off with a three-run shot to left field, completing an eight-run inning between the two teams and capping the sweep in grand fashion:

After being swept by the Miami Marlins in Philadelphia this past weekend, the Phils pay a visit to Miami for three games, starting at 7:10 p.m. Friday.

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SHIBE VINTAGE SPORTS STARTING PITCHING PERFORMANCE

PHILLIES – Aaron Nola: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO, 102 pitches, 65 strikes

METS – Zack Wheeler: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO, 107 pitches, 72 strikes

PHILLIES NUGGETS PLAYER OF THE GAME: AARON NOLA

Harper provided the go-ahead homer, but Nola was masterful for the second straight start. The only hit he allowed was a seeing-eye single from Wheeler to lead off the sixth. He worked out of a few tough spots and made it through seven scoreless innings fairly easily while striking out 10 Mets along the way: