The Phillies have finally clinched a postseason berth with a 12-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field. Philadelphia will play postseason baseball for the third consecutive season. It’s only the third time in franchise history (1976-78 and 2007-11) the Phillies have advanced to the postseason in three consecutive seasons.
Alec Bohm hit a three-run bomb to left field as part of a six-run fourth inning. Bohm finished the day 4-for-5 with four RBIs. Cristopher Sánchez did not have his best command, but he was able to limit the damage to just two runs over five innings to earn his 11th win of the season. His season ERA is at 3.25.
With the playoff berth secured, the next step is wrapping up the franchise’s first division title in 13 years. The Phillies’ magic number to win the NL East is one with eight games left to play. One more win against the Mets this weekend in New York will do it.
Highlights
José Iglesias turned on a fastball in the middle of the plate and hit one out for a leadoff home run to put the Mets up 1-0. Iglesias now has a hit in 14 straight games. The Mets added another in the inning on an RBI groundout from Brandon Nimmo.
The Phillies got a run back a half inning later with a sacrifice fly from Edmundo Sosa. Sosa got the start at second with the lefty David Peterson on the mound.
The Phillies put together a two-out rally in the third with singles from Bryce Harper and Bohm and an RBI double by Nick Castellanos. The throw in got away and Bohm attempted to take home. He was out by a good margin and made a hilarious attempt to avoid Peterson’s tag.
Bohm made up for that base running error in a big way an inning later. The Phillies scored six in the fourth, including a three-run home run from Bohm against reliever Adam Ottavino. They pushed Peterson out after 3 2/3 innings following a two-run double from Johan Rojas that was mistakenly caught by the bat boy in left field.
In his last inning of work in the fifth, Sánchez walked two consecutive batters to load the bases and responded with a three-pitch strikeout to Pete Alonso to keep the Mets scoreless in the inning.
Two more Phillies runs came into score on an RBI single by Bohm, his fourth run driven in on the day, and an RBI ground out by Castellanos in the sixth.
J.T. Realmuto made it 12-2 on a two-run home run against Danny Young in the top of the eighth. Many of the over 41,000 Mets fans that were still inside Citi Field headed for the stands as Realmuto touched home plate.
Notes
Sánchez’s five walks are a new career high. The Phillies have also won five consecutive Sánchez starts.
Bohm recorded a season-high four hits for the third time this season.
Bohm, Castellanos, Trea Turner, Realmuto and Rojas all recorded multiple hits.
After finishing last night’s four-run win with Edwin Diaz, the Mets gave the ball to position player Eddie Alvarez. He gave up a double to Kyle Schwarber, hit Turner, but kept the Phillies scoreless. Alvarez and Alex Young were the only Mets pitchers to not allow an earned run in the game.
Good note from Matt Gelb of The Athletic on the stolen bases. They stole four bases alone in the fourth. Three of those came against Ottavino, who is notoriously slow to the plate.
A lifelong native of Philadelphia, Destiny has been a contributor for Phillies Nation since January 2019 and was named Deputy Editorial Director in May 2020.