Alvarado blows save, Phillies come up just short in London Series finale

Final score: Mets 6, Phillies 5

For the better part of 17 innings, the Phillies gave London fans new to baseball a showcase of why, exactly, they’re the winningest team in MLB. In the 18th inning, those fans learned just how unpredictable baseball is.

José Alvarado made a solid first impression in terms of upper-90s fastballs but not so much with his command, walking two and hitting one — which, along with two singles, turned a 4-3 lead into a 5-4 deficit in the ninth. (A passed ball, which missed the zone by a couple feet), then made it 6-4.)

And that was the difference. Despite 5 2/3 effective innings from Taijuan Walker, a late pinch-hit go-ahead homer by David Dahl and a golden opportunity to walk it off, the Phillies will return home with a London Series split.

Highlights

• The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs in the first but only scored once. Alec Bohm’s double play gave them a 1-0 lead but effectively killed the rally.
• The bottom of the order put a rally together in the fourth. Nick Castellanos singled, Edmundo Sosa drove him in with an RBI double and Whit Merrifield scored Sosa on a single.

• The wheels briefly fell off for the Phillies in the sixth. With two outs and two on, Rob Thomson pulled Walker at just 79 pitches. It backfired. Gregory Soto allowed an RBI double and single to tie it, then walked a batter and got pulled. Matt Strahm stopped the damage there.
• Strahm also had to pitch out of trouble in the seventh, again to little fault of his own. Bohm overran a foul pop and Johan Rojas got a bad jump on a shallow fly ball to give Jeff McNeil a leadoff “single.” Mark Vientos then walked, despite ball two landing fully within the strike zone. Strahm got two outs and Jeff Hoffman got the third, though, with no harm.
• Dahl delivered a go-ahead big fly in the seventh, a pinch-hit blast. It’s his third extra-base hit in three games with the Phillies this season.

• Alvarado went walk, single, single, walk, strikeout, hit by pitch in the ninth to allow the Mets to tie it, then take the lead. The passed ball, a critical insurance run, came in the next at bat.
• The Phillies threatened in their half of the inning. They loaded the bases with one out and a run already in, but Nick Castellanos hit a ball a few inches in front of home plate for a game-ending 2-3 double play.

Notes

• Strahm and Hoffman lowered their ERAs to 0.69 and 0.93, respectively.
• It was not a good day for Bohm, despite a single and a game-tying walk. He got backpicked at first base in the fifth and tried to barehand the second hit of the ninth inning, unsuccessfully — on top of the aforementioned overran foul pop and first-inning double play.
• Walker was charged with two runs, but it was still a solid day for the righty. It’s his second start as a Phillie with at least 5 2/3 innings and at most two hits.
• The Phillies’ NL East lead sits at 8 1/2 games. The first team to 40 wins, they’re also the last to 20. They’re 45-20.

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