Phillies’ woes at Citi Field continue in embarrassing loss to Mets
NEW YORK — Starter Cristopher Sánchez left the dugout for the bottom of the fourth with a 3-0 lead and no hits allowed. He came back and pounded a trash can after allowing three runs in an eventual 13-3 loss to the New York Mets.
Sánchez, who allowed five earned runs across 5 2/3 innings, was not at his sharpest, but he wasn’t the only one. The Phillies stranded six runners on base through the first four innings and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position against Mets starter Kodai Senga. The Phillies also went hitless with one walk in five innings against the Mets bullpen.
“Tonight didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Bryce Harper said. “Kind of got away from us. It’s just gotta be better. Gotta flush it as quick as possible and get ready for tomorrow.”
New York broke up Sánchez’s no-hit bid in the fourth with a Juan Soto single. That was quickly erased with a 5-4-3 double play against Starling Marte, but things changed when Pete Alonso reached on a single and advanced to second on a balk. Sánchez’s foot appeared to get caught in the mound as he began his motion, and the Phillies starter held on to the ball.
Sánchez said it impacted his pitches, and his confidence.
“I slipped in a way that I wasn’t able to throw the ball because I could have hurt myself,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “So I just stopped. I think it threw me off my rhythm a little bit.”
Sánchez was out of sync for the remainder of the game. Mark Vientos doubled on a ball to third baseman Alec Bohm that took a funny hop. The Mets’ two-out rally continued with singles from Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil.
“I think it was, for the whole season, my worst outing when it comes to the changeup,” Sánchez said. “We can all see that.”
It didn’t get much better in the fifth inning. Soto walked and Sánchez caught him too far off the first base bag. Harper held on a bit too long to the ball and Bryson Stott dropped the throw from Harper. What should have been the second out of the inning turned into a runner in scoring position. Instead, Soto came around to score on another Vientos double that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.
It’s the first time since May 29 that Sánchez has failed to get through six innings in a start.
The offensive onslaught continued against the perpetually struggling Jordan Romano. The right-hander allowed the first three batters to reach base safely. The first run scored on a sacrifice fly, while the others came on a three-run home run, the first long ball allowed by Phillies pitching on the night.
Romano’s ERA is up to 8.23. He has allowed 10 home runs in 42 2/3 innings.
His future with the club could be in jeopardy.
“Again, the velocity fluctuated,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The last pitch was 97 (mph). The slider was just kind of backing up. He had six days off. We’re trying to give him some rest, but, you know, we really have to check on him tomorrow to see what’s going on.”
The other bullpen acquisition in the offseason didn’t fare much better. Joe Ross allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
The game also featured a nearly 15-minute delay in the top of the fifth. After Alec Bohm grounded into a double play against left-hander José Castillo, the umpires removed a pair of parabolic cameras in the batters eye.
“Somebody must have turned (the microphone),” Thomson said. “So it was facing the plate and there was a glare coming off of it. Out of the left-hander’s arm slot, the ball was coming right out of that disc. They had to wait to get it out of there.”
The Mets scored 13 unanswered runs to win their eighth consecutive game, including postseason, against the Phillies at Citi Field. The Phillies (76-55) are six games up on the Mets (70-61), but have to be disappointed after following up one of their best weeks of the season with one of the worst performances of the year.