Smyly, Hernandez lead Phillies to victory over the Mets

With a solid performance from starting pitcher Drew Smyly, the Philadelphia Phillies (73-68) defeated the New York Mets (72-69) by a final score of 5-0 to even up the series against the Mets.

The Phillies jumped out to an early lead. Cesar Hernandez got a cutter inside on 3-2 and pulled it into the first row of the second deck for his 9th home run of the season:

¡Esta pelota está fuera de aquí!
pic.twitter.com/X5Er7TzBKV

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) September 7, 2019

The Phillies could have added on to their lead, but just as they did twice in last night’s ballgame, they left the bases loaded. Brad Miller struck out with one away and Scott Kingery lined out to the pitcher Stroman to the end the first.

New York was on the verge of tying the game and then some in the bottom of the first. Todd Frazier came up to the plate with the bases loaded and two men out. Drew Smyly struggled to put hitters away and left a hanging curveball, daring him to hit it out the ballpark. Frazier instead drove the pitch towards the right-center field gap near the track and Adam Haseley, who is starting in right field for the injured Bryce Harper, made a spectacular inning-ending, run-saving catch:

Next year’s Opening Day starting center fielder?
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— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) September 8, 2019

The scoring resumed in the top of the fourth. Kingery began the inning by popping up to J.D Davis in left field. It looked like a routine play, but Davis didn’t see the ball into his glove all the way and as a result, he dropped an easy fly ball out. That got a rally started for the Phillies. Hernandez would knock in his second RBI of the game on a single to right, scoring Kingery from second. On the very next pitch, Realmuto smacked a dead-center changeup to right, extending his RBI streak to five games. Two more would be added on a double from Corey Dickerson.

The Phillies did not need to do much else at the plate as Smyly would go on to throw seven shutout innings, earning himself a victory. Cole Irvin and Nick Pivetta threw two combined innings of shutout ball to secure the victory for the Phillies.

Vince Velasquez will go up against Noah Syndergaard in the series finale Sunday in Queens.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Drew Smyly: 7IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 6SO

Marcus Stroman: 4.0 IP, 10H, 5R, 4ER, 0BB, 6SO

Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Drew Smyly

It didn’t seem like his outing was going to go this way at first, but Drew Smyly did exactly what the Phillies needed him to do. He was bailed out early with a great running catch by Haseley in right and if it wasn’t for Realmuto behind the plate, many of his pitches that were short of the plate would have reached the backstop. Nonetheless, the 30-year-old got the ground ball outs when he needed them the most and became a much more efficient pitcher as the game went along. Smyly’s quality start could not have come at a better time as the Phillies bullpen is absolutely gassed. Smyly most likely will not be pitching in a Phillies uniform come 2020, but nonetheless, this will go down as his best start so far in his short tenure in Philadelphia.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Sunday, 1:10 vs. New York Mets at Citi Field
• NBC Sports Philadelphia; TBS 
• Talk Radio 1210 WPHT (Eagles game will be on 94 WIP)