Mets Score 13 Runs in Domination of Phillies

The Mets (70-61) entered Monday’s series opener against the Phillies (76-55) seven games back in the National League East, their hopes for claiming a division title hanging by a thread. Despite falling behind early, the Mets improved their positioning in the division with an offensive breakout and a dominant bullpen effort. The result was a huge 13-3 win to move to six games behind Philadelphia.

From the opening batter, it appeared like it wasn’t going to be the Mets’ night. Trea Turner led off the game and appeared to watch strike three from Kodai Senga go by, but Turner got help from the home plate umpire, who called it a ball. Turner drove the very next pitch for a triple, scoring in the next at-bat when Kyle Schwarber grounded out.

Philadelphia struck again two innings later when Alec Bohm drove a two-out, two-run single the other way to make it a 3-0 game. Bryce Harper had advanced to second base after singling two at-bats prior, when Juan Soto tried to gun Schwarber down on a play at third. That resulted in two runs scoring on Bohm’s base hit instead of one.

With the way the past few months have gone, the game already felt over. However, the Mets were able to put together a strong fourth inning reminiscent of the team’s comebacks from the 2024 season. It looked like it was going to be another scoreless inning when Pete Alonso came to the plate with two outs and nobody on, but he was able to extend the inning with a single. Alonso eventually advanced to third on a Cristopher Sánchez balk and a wild pitch. The Mets then rattled off four straight baserunners—a Mark Vientos double, a Brandon Nimmo single, a Tyrone Taylor walk, and a Jeff McNeil single—to score three runs to tie the game.

The Mets followed up their big fourth inning with runs in each of the following four innings, scoring in each frame the rest of the way. Mark Vientos recorded his second RBI hit of the night with a run-scoring double in the fifth, before Luis Torrens drove an RBI double into the right field gap in the sixth. Torrens’ hit chased the usually dominant Sánchez from the game with five runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings. David Robertson came in and promptly struck out Francisco Lindor, but a walk to Juan Soto and a Starling Marte RBI single scored another run to put the Mets up 6-3.

Jordan Romano, who has had a rough year out of Philadelphia’s bullpen, immediately loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, and the Mets took full advantage. Jeff McNeil flied out deep enough for the run from third to score before Luis Torrens hit a three-run homer, just his third home run of the year, to break the game wide open and put the Mets up 10-3. Tyrone Taylor, Jeff McNeil, and Luis Torrens each recorded an RBI single off Joe Ross in the eighth to add on three more runs and go up 13-3.

The Mets avoided any chance of a comeback with one of the best bullpen efforts we’ve seen this year. After Kodai Senga allowed three runs in four innings, another unpromising start out of him, José Castillo, Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley, Ryan Helsley, and Ryne Stanek combined to toss five hitless innings to completely silence the Phillies. The lone baserunner allowed was on a Stanek walk in the ninth.

The 10-run win was a statement from the Mets, who believe they’re not out of contention for the division title just yet. They move to 70-61 on the year and now sit six games behind the Phillies with six left to play against them.

Statistic of the Game: Castillo Earns First Win in Seven Years

With his scoreless fifth inning, which he completed on just three pitches, José Castillo recorded the win for the Mets. The win is the first for Castillo since his rookie year in 2018, when he was with the Padres, and just the fourth of his big league career. Per the SNY broadcast, the last Mets pitcher to go that long without recording a win was José Parra, who recorded a win in 2004 after not having one since 1996.

Player of the Game: Luis Torrens

Who would have expected this? What a game from Torrens, who has been so great defensively this season but generally unreliable with the bat. Torrens has a penchant for going the other way, and he did so with all of his hits going to right-center field. Torrens finished 3-for-5 and recorded five RBIs, playing a big role in this dominant Mets victory.

On Deck

The Mets will continue their series with the Phillies on Tuesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. It will be a matchup of southpaws, with Sean Manaea (1-2, 5.15 ERA) taking the bump for the Mets and Jesús Luzardo (12-6, 4.10 ERA) going for the Phillies. The game will be broadcast on SNY and TBS.

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