Phillies win slopfest vs. Mets behind another brilliant Bryce Harper game

Final Score: Phillies 10, Mets 5

An offensive explosion in the middle innings carried the Phillies (31-13) to a third-straight victory over the rival New York Mets.

Down by one in the fifth inning, the Phillies turned on the switch with a four-run inning against Mets starter Joey Lucchesi. Edmundo Sosa and Cristian Pache led off with two walks. Johan Rojas then laid out a great bunt to the third-base side and reached on a fielder’s choice after Lucchesi tried to get Sosa out at third. It set up a bases loaded opportunity for Kyle Schwarber, who walked in a run.

With reliever Grant Hartwig still warming up in the bullpen, Lucchesi had to face the returning J.T. Realmuto, who scorched a sinker in the middle of the plate to drive in Pache.

It set up another bases loaded opportunity for Harper, a situation he has been nearly perfect in all season. On a 1-0 count, Harper torched another sinker in the middle to score two more runs to make it 5-2.

A day after being scratched from the lineup with a migraine, Harper fell a triple shy of the cycle for the 12th time in his Phillies career.

The Phillies’ ten runs made it easier to stomach some of the sloppiness on display from the Phillies both on the basepaths and in the field. For what it’s worth, the Mets were much worse.

Highlights

• The Phillies drew even in the bottom of the first on Harper’s 10th home run of the season.

Bryce is the first Phillie to reach double digit homers in 2024. pic.twitter.com/B7XRGs4OcJ

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) May 15, 2024

• Harper now has 11 RBIs this season with the bases loaded:

3 hits for Bryce Harper tonight. Here’s his RBI double from the 5th inning.

Needs a triple for the cycle… pic.twitter.com/FKEiLJCgCY

— John Foley (@2008Philz) May 16, 2024

• The bottom of the seventh inning for the Mets was one of the sloppiest you’ll see all year. Francisco Lindor bobbled a double play ball that would have ended the inning and Mark Vientos, on a weak ground ball to third, didn’t touch third and allowed Rojas to reach on an infield single.

Notes

• Ranger Suárez didn’t have his best command, but he still managed to lower his ERA from 1.50 to 1.37. He allowed four hits over five innings to earn his eighth win of the season.
• Spencer Turnbull gave up a season-high three earned runs over three innings in relief of Suárez. What’s more important for the Phillies is that he reached three innings and 54 pitches, which is good enough to keep him relatively stretched out.
• Seranthony Domínguez needed only four pitches to retire the Mets in the bottom of the ninth.
• Nick Castellanos took an ill-advised turn around first on a single to right field and was thrown out at second by Starling Marte. Realmuto made a similar base-running blunder in the fifth when he tried to score from first on Harper’s double with no outs.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Thursday, May 16 vs. New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park
• 6:40 p.m. EST
• NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
• 94 WIP

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