September 19 – While the New York Mets are focused on securing one of the National League’s three wild-card playoff spots, they hope to avoid seeing the Philadelphia Phillies steal the division title before them.
The Mets (84-68) put up two impressive performances at the plate and will try to host the Phillies (91-61) on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
New York lost two of three games in Philadelphia last weekend, losing Game 2 in the final innings after an 11-3 defeat to open the series. The Mets swept the visiting Washington Nationals in three games, scoring nine runs in the fourth inning on Wednesday to win 10-0.
Brandon Nimmo highlighted the big picture with a three-run home run in the fourth inning, scoring on Tyrone Taylor’s RBI double.
The nine runs brought the Mets within seven games of the NL East-leading Phillies, and if the Mets could win their next four games, a three-game deficit would be reached in the final six games of the season. More importantly, the Mets maintained a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the third wild card, tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for second place and trailing the San Diego Padres in the first wild card 2 games by 2 1/2.
“We’ll be ready,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I think we’ve shown for a long time that we don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ve had the Phillies come to town; they’re really good. We just saw them. We’re good, too.” , The team members will be ready to face the challenge.
Rookie Luis Angel Acuna has started the past two games at shortstop and will likely start at shortstop again if Francisco Lindor misses his fourth consecutive game with a lower back injury.
The Phillies, who have held the division lead since May 3, made their third consecutive playoffs with the magic number 1 and won their first division title since 2011 with the magic number 4. The team is 12-5 in its last 17 games and has lost two of three games against Milwaukee, including Wednesday’s 2-1 loss.
Alec Bohm homered in the second inning, but the Phillies scored 16 runs for the second consecutive game. He struck out 40 times in the series and went 3 for 23 with runners in scoring position.
“I don’t think it’s anything to be nervous about,” Bohm said. “Obviously, we can run the ball a little bit more, but we’re going up against some really good pitching.”
Right-hander Luis Severino (10-6, 3.77 ERA), who is 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA in his last six starts, will open the scoring for the Mets in the series opener. Severino allowed three runs on three hits in six innings while earning his second consecutive no-decision Saturday in Philadelphia. The Mets lost 6-4.
Severino has a 1-0 record with a 2.08 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies, who hit two home runs in the win over Severino on Saturday.
Taijuan Walker (3-6, 6.29 ERA) will make his third relief appearance Saturday against the Mets, returning to Philly’s rotation after allowing three hits in three scoreless innings.
The right-hander last started on Aug. 28, allowing six runs on 13 hits over six innings in a 10-0 loss to the Houston Astros. Since his last win on May 11, Walker is 0-6 with a 6.75 ERA in his last 14 games.
Walker made nine appearances (eight starts) against New York and went 1–3 with a 3.18 ERA.
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