Smoked by the Mets: Mets 4, Phillies 1

By admin — In News — July 17, 2026

   ​It’s important to remember who is playing who and what these games always mean. It’s the Phillies and Mets, so clean baseball, good decision-making, and even normal weather conditions are not guaranteed.The air quality was so bad they moved the game up an hour, and probably should’ve just delayed it to tomorrow with both teams having the off day. Trea Turner botched a routine groundball, Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette botched Kyle Schwarber’s bad baserunning blunder, and Don Mattingly left multiple pitchers in for way too long. Even if there wasn’t a prototypical Mets’ing on display, this is what to expect when these two teams play each other.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhile the Phillies offense was struggling to figure out Christian Scott the first time through the order, Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez was able to capitalize on one of Aaron Nola’s few mistakes, smoking a hanging slider to dead-center field to break the scoreless tie.The fifth inning rolled around with Nola displaying new adjustments to his pitch mix, he is emphasizing the changeup more, throwing 21 of them over his 97 pitch effort. He worked plenty of curveballs for called strikes early in counts and chase on strikeouts and the changeup kept the seven left-handed or switch-hitting Mets off the fastball.When Nola has the feel for both, there is still a good pitcher in there, even when he runs into trouble.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe fifth inning against the bottom of the Mets order looked like a mess, Jared Young walked on six pitches followed by a Brett Baty single to center field. After two straight pitches out of the zone to Alvarez, he threw a pretty good sinker that was on the strike-zone line but JT Realmuto didn’t challenge, Alvarez walked to load the bases.With the top of the order coming up for New York, it looked like the time Nola hits a disaster that spirals the outing. AJ Ewing took a breaking ball down and got a changeup to hit but fortunately, it was off the end of his bat and a routine lineout double play to keep anyone from scoring.After an intentional walk to Juan Soto, Nola is able to handle Bo Bichette with a weak flyball on a down-and-away curveball to end the threat.But Christian Scott spoils the potential Phillies momentum by retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts in the bottom half of the fifth and cruised until Kyle Schwarber stepped up in the sixth.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSchwarber launched a hanging curveball right off the metal railing, back into play that was reviewed and ruled a double based on the rules of the ballpark. Weirdly, this is the second time that exact thing has happened on an ESPN broadcast between the Phillies and Mets, if anyone remembers when Rhys Hoskins did the exact same thing back in 2021. That was it for Scott as interim manager Andy Green went to his bullpen for Brooks Raley. After a four-pitch walk to Bryce Harper, Raley got Brandon Marsh looking silly on  

Content Source: Yahoo News

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