After two days off for transatlantic travel, the Mets were heading to London Stadium to play the Phillies in the annual London Series. The Mets had Sean Manaea pitching, coming off an uneven start where he struck out ten but also gave up six runs. The Phillies were putting out Ranger Suárez, who is having another excellent season but was coming off a small injury. The Mets were also riding high after a sweep of the Nationals, so they were hoping to continue their winning streak against the best team in baseball.
Manaea looked pretty good in the first inning. Other than a two out double to Bryce Harper, he cruised through the first. The Mets had a more eventful bottom of the inning, beginning with a Francsico Lindor lead off double. After two outs, J.D. Martinez was hit by a pitch to put another runner on base, then Starling Marte hit a double to drive in Lindor and advance Martinez to third. Mark Vientos struck out to end the inning but the Mets had the early lead.
The Phillies and Mets traded hitless innings, with both sides going down in order in the second and the Phillies doing the same in the third. The Mets had one baserunner in the bottom of the third courtesy of a Pete Alonso walk but didn’t turn the baserunner into anything.
The fourth inning was a…disaster. After J.T. Realmuto lined out to start the inning, Bryce Harper hit a home run to tie the game. Alec Bohm hit a single to put a runner on, then Nick Castellanos flew out for the second out. Bryson Stott walked, putting two runners on with two outs. But then Edmundo Sosa hit an easy, high fly ball to right field…
That Starling Marte somehow let drop a good ten feet in front of him. Bohm scored as the go-ahead run, Stott made it to third, and runners were on the corners with two outs. Whit Merrifield then hit a three-run home run to give the Phillies five runs in the inning. Cristian Pache then hit a double, and Kyle Schwarber drove him in with a single to give the Phillies a five run lead over the Mets, and driving Manaea from the game. Sean Reid-Foley came in and got Realmuto to ground out and finally stop the bleeding. Marte led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. After two outs in succession, José Iglesias hit a double to put two runners in scoring position. But Luis Torrens struck out to end the inning.
Adrian Houser came in for the fifth inning. The Phillies led off with another baserunner after a Harper single, but he was thrown out trying to steal second. Two outs followed to end the inning with the Phillies still up by five runs. The Mets made a little noise in the bottom of the inning. Lindor led off with a single, then Alonso hit a ground rule double to put two runners in scoring position. Nimmo struck out for the first out, and Martinez hit a ground out that drove in Lindor to cut the Phillies lead to four runs. Marte struck out to end the inning and stranded a runner on second.
The Phillies went down in order in the top of the sixth inning. The Mets strung together a few hits in the bottom of the inning, with Iglesias and Torrens hitting back-to-back two-out singles, and driving Suárez from the game. Orion Kerkering came in and got the third out without allowing either baserunner to score.
The Phillies had a relatively quiet top of the seventh inning. A two-out Realmuto single made the Mets bring in Danny Young to relieve Houser, but otherwise nothing of note happened. The Mets went down in order in the bottom of the inning, giving them just six more outs to try and at least tie the game.
What didn’t help that mission was Castellanos’ one-out solo home run to balloon the Phillies’ lead back to five runs. The Stott single that followed led to the end of Danny Young’s day, with Adam Ottavino coming out to pitch. A Stott stolen base put a runner in scoring position but two groundouts back-to-back ended the inning before any more runs could score. Seranthony Domínguez came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and other than a two-out Harrison Bader walk, the Mets couldn’t get anything to happen. Five runs, three outs.
Jake Diekman came out to pitch in the top of the ninth. He did a good job, not allowing any baserunners and putting the Mets in as good of a position as possible to try and make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth. Josè Ruiz came in for the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth. D.J. Stewart, pinch hitting for Luis Torrens, led off the inning with a fly out. Then Lindor walked and Alonso and Nimmo hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with only one out. But J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play to end the game.
The Mets could’ve won that game, but Starling Marte’s misplay that didn’t need to be killed any chance of that happening. The Mets have looked somewhat better of late, with better pitching and offense showing signs of waking up. That offense includes Marte, who has been good at the plate (though not as good as he once was). But his ability when hitting is not enough to outplay his poor performance in the field that appears to be some mixture of loss of ability and lack of care. They also have him under contract for another year after this one, which is a growing problem with each additional misplay. The Mets will go into tomorrow hoping to split the London Series. They have José Quintana pitching, which isn’t the greatest harbinger of success, but the Phillies have Taijuan Walker lined up who has been similarly mediocre, if not bad.
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:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25483219/6824_wpa.png "Phillies 7, Mets 2: Marte misplay sinks Mets like a stone (1)")
What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Starling Marte, +11.3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Sean Manaea, -40.3% WPA
Mets pitchers: -37.7% WPA
Mets hitters: -12.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte’s RBI double, +11.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Whit Merrifield’s three run home run, -24.2% WPA
