A tale of two Phillies

Game 1

In the first of the Mets’ two games on Thursday, almost everything went right for the Amazin’s in their 24-4 victory. They set a new club record with 24 runs scored in the game, coming on 25 hits by 10 different players. Corey Oswalt had a mildly disappointing start as he went six innings while giving up four runs on four home runs and only striking out two. Of course, by the time the game was over, nobody really remembered how he fared in his start.

Things got busy in a hurry as Amed Rosario turned on the first pitch of the night and sent it over 430 feet to the foliage in center field to put the Mets up 1-0. Austin Jackson immediately followed up with a single, but was erased on a Wilmer Flores double play ball.

The offense for both sides was silenced until the Phillies’ half of the second inning came around. In what would be a recurring problem for Oswalt in this game, a Phillie hit a home run. In this instance, the Phillie was Rhys Hoskins and he connected for his 24th home run on the season. One fly out later, Maikel Franco came to the plate and sent his 20th home run of the year over the wall in left-center field to put Philadelphia up 2-1. Things got extremely dicey as the next two batters got on base with a pair of singles, but Oswalt was able to retire two of the next three batters to escape the jam.

It was from this point onward that things really started to pick up. Kevin Plawecki lead off the top of the third with a triple and two batters later, Amed Rosario brought him home to tie the game at two. A single and an error loaded the bases for the surging Todd Frazier who drew a walk to put the Mets ahead by one. The next batter, Brandon Nimmo, dribbled a ball to third to end the inning. The real downside was that the ball didn’t hit his bat, it ricocheted off of his index finger and sent him to the dirt in a heap. Nimmo was removed from the game in favor of Jose Bautista as the Mets took the field in the next inning.

For the Phillies, the third batter of the next inning was Nick Williams and he did what Hoskins and Franco did before him, taking Oswalt’s pitch over the wall. While the score was knotted up at 3-3, that didn’t last.

Much like they did in the third, the Mets found a way to quickly retaliate after the Phillies brought some runs home. A Jose Reyes walk and Kevin Plawecki’s single set the Mets up for a good inning with the pitcher and the top of the order coming to the plate. Oswalt’s sacrifice bunt brought the runners to second and third, while Rosario’s single and Maikel Franco’s error brought them home. The next two batters would go down in order to end the inning. In the bottom of the fourth, with bases empty, the fourth Phillies’ batter of the night hit a home run off of Corey Oswalt, this one bringing the score to 5-4.

The next half inning, the top of the fifth, was when things really went off the rails to the point of no return. Michael Conforto started things with a double and Todd Frazier followed that with a double to put men on second and third with none out for Jose Bautista. A balk by Ranger Suarez allowed Conforto to come home and then Bautista proceeded to single and bring Frazier home. Soon after, Kevin Plawecki walked and Corey Oswalt reached base on an error that allowed Bautista to come home with the inning’s third run. Amed Rosario reached base on a fielder’s choice and then stole second a few pitches later. With Austin Jackson up, the Phillies committed yet another error allowing Rosario to score and Jackson to reach third base. Wilmer Flores came up and hit a single, bringing Jackson around to score, and bringing the score to 11-4. After another Michael Conforto double and a Todd Frazier walk, Jose Bautista came to the plate with the bases full of Mets. Bautista took Mark Leiter Jr.’s third pitch of the at bat to the left field seats to bring the score to 15-4. When it was all said and done, the Mets brought 15 batters to the plate with 13 of them reaching base and 10 of them scoring.

The Mets weren’t done yet, going right back to scoring after a hiatus for one inning. With Roman Quinn now pitching, Michael Conforto swung and the first strike he saw and deposited it over the right field wall, becoming the Mets’ 16th run of the night. Kevin Plawecki brought home number 17 later in the inning.

In the eighth inning, the Mets continued their brutal bludgeoning of Roman Quinn with Amed Rosario and Austin Jackson ending up on third and second base by the time the third batter of the inning came to the plate. Following two quick outs, Todd Frazier walked again to bring Jose Bautista up with the bases juiced. This time, the outcome was much less thrilling as Joey Bats drew a walk to force in another run. The next batter, Jose Reyes, did the same exact thing. The batter after that, Kevin Plawecki, spiced things up a bit with a double to right to bring home two and put two men in scoring position for the feared slugger Jerry Blevins. Obviously, Blevins capitalized on this opportunity and connected for his first major league hit and first run batted in.

The Mets wouldn’t score again in the eighth, but they would score twice more in the ninth. A Wilmer Flores single drove in the club’s 23rd run and a double by Jose Bautista later on would account for number 24 on the night.

With Jacob Rhame cruising through the final two innings, the Mets were able to seal the deal on the record-setting 24-4 game.

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Box scores

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Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Amed Rosario +33.7% WPA, Todd Frazier +19.2% WPA, Kevin Plawecki +18.6% WPA, Michael Conforto +10.9% WPA
Big losers: Corey Oswalt -22.7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Amed Rosario’s two-run single in the fourth, +16.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nick Williams’ third inning home run, -12.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -22.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: +72.6% WPA
GWRBI!: Amed Rosario

Game 2

With the way things started in the Mets’ half of the first, it almost felt like they were going to score another 24 runs. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen in the Mets’ 9-6 loss to Philadelphia in the second game of the doubleheader.

Steven Matz took the hill for the first time since July 31st and things could’ve gone much better for him. The Phillies knocked him around and out of the game within two innings, but not before scoring six runs on five hits against the lefty.

Early in the night, the Mets smacked three consecutive doubles to start the first inning and put the Phillies in a quick 2-0 hole. But, in typical Met fashion, three of the next four batters made outs and ended the inning. The end of the top half of the first inning was the last time in the game that the Mets held the lead.

After the first three batters of the game produced two singles, Rhys Hoskins came to the plate representing the go-ahead run. Needless to say, Rhys Lightning took Matz’ changeup to deep left and put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 in the first.

Things just got worse for Matz in the next inning as Scott Kingery lead things off with a home run to extend the lead to two runs. Soon after, Roman Quinn caused a bunch of problems, starting with the error that Steven Matz made to let him reach base. A passed ball allowed him to reach second and a stolen base moved him over to third. Cesar Hernandez walked to create a corners situation and Mets-killer Wilson Ramos singled home Quinn. A botched rundown that allowed Cesar Hernandez to steal home accounted for the third run of the second inning.

With the exception of a double here and there, both teams spent the next three innings doing a whole lot of nothing on offense. Paul Sewald and Drew Smith were able to do what Matz couldn’t and keep Philly off the board in their three innings of work. But, in the bottom of the sixth, an injured Bobby Wahl came in and gave up a pair of runs on a pair of singles and a double.

The Mets started to crawl back with their two runs scored in the seventh. Jack Reinheimer singled to start things off and Amed Rosario doubled to make it an 8-3 game. A grounder by Jeff McNeil moved him over and a single by Michael Conforto moved him home to bring the Mets within grand slam range. In the bottom of the inning, the Phillies promptly sent the Mets back out of slam range with back-to-back doubles off of Tyler Bashlor by Carlos Santana and Maikel Franco to make it a 9-4 game.

The Mets made one last push for the lead in the ninth with some familiar characters leading the charge. With Rosario and Plawecki on base, Conforto hit a run-scoring single to make it a 9-5 game. Wilmer Flores did the same thing as Conforto and brought a run home to cut the lead to three. Two straight strikeouts by Austin Jackson and Jose Bautista ended the Mets’ threat and the game.

The Mets and Phillies play the third game in this five-game series tomorrow night at 6:00pm as Noah Syndergaard takes on Aaron Nola.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

The Good Phight

Box scores

ESPN
MLB

Win Probability Added

FanGraphs

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Michael Conforto +11.5% WPA
Big losers: Steven Matz -45.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Micheal Conforto’s first inning double, +9.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Rhys Hoskins’ first inning home run, -23.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -44.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: -5.2% WPA
GWRBI!: Cesar Hernandez