Mets' Clay Holmes can't get through 5th inning as club gets blown out by Phillies again
Mets' Clay Holmes pitches during the first inning against the Phillies on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
PHILADELPHIA — The Mets say they’re fighting. Their manager says they’re fighting. Their front office says they’re fighting.
What they appear to be fighting, however, is themselves.
The Mets put together yet another lifeless display Wednesday night, falling to the Phillies, 11-3, at Citizens Bank Park for their fifth loss in a row and sixth in their last seven. The only highlight came nearly 3,000 miles away where the Giants lost to the Diamondbacks to remain two games behind them for the third and final wild card spot. The Reds defeated the Padres to also get to two games back.
“We’re still in a position to make the year look completely different and everyone here is pushing toward that, fighting,” Francisco Lindor said. “Baseball is a game of momentum and we haven’t been able to capitalize on the times when we had the momentum.”
The Mets are just six games over .500 with 16 to play — a precipitous decline from their high-water mark of 21-games over, achieved on June 12. They had a 5 1⁄2 game lead in the National League East then, while Wednesday’s loss puts them a season-high 10 games back — all but mathematically eliminating any hope of the division title. They’re also 31-43 on the road with seven more away games this year.
“We put ourselves in this position,” manager Carlos Mendoza said before the game. “You always want to win the division and [we] played pretty well against [Philadelphia] at home and we got as close as four games and now, it’s been hard for us and you’ve got to be realistic. We’re still in a position to make something special [out of this]. You take your chances. We still believe in those guys and we go from there.”
The Mets’ bats were again baffled by a Phillies starter — this time, lefty Cristopher Sanchez. He allowed one run and four hits with a walk and six strikeouts over six innings. And, as too often has been the case, they were immediately dealt with a deficit.
Clay Holmes allowed a bases-loaded RBI single to J.T. Realmuto in the first and hit Max Kepler to push another run across the plate. The Mets got one back in the fourth, when Starling Marte’s single chased Juan Soto home from third — it was just the fourth run the Mets had scored in 21 1⁄3 innings. Brandon Nimmo’s double play, though, killed the rally.
The Phillies scored two more in the fifth, when, with Realmuto on first, Holmes grooved a sinker to Brandon Marsh, who rocketed it to the left-field corner for a 3-1 lead, ending the righty’s evening. Gregory Soto, in to face the lefty Kepler, served up a fastball down the heart of the plate for a run-scoring single.
“We’re playing from behind and these games mean a lot,” Holmes said. “So [I] can’t really afford to have those mistakes there.”
Holmes allowed four runs and six hits with three walks and five strikeouts over four-plus innings — yet another short outing for a rotation too often plagued by the malady.
“It has a trickle effect,” Mendoza said. After a short start, “you’re usually down four, five runs and then the at-bats are completely different. If you’re leading off an inning, you’re not going to be as aggressive. You’ve got to take a strike, you’ve got to take pitches, you’ve got to create a rally . . . It’s a completely different game.”
Soto, who’s mostly been reliable, got lit up for four more runs in the sixth to put the deficit at 8-1.
Harrison Bader, a trade deadline acquisition the Mets passed on in favor of a struggling Cedric Mullins, reached base three times, on a single, double and hit by pitch, and scored twice; he’s 17-for-31 against his old team this year, with two doubles, two homers, six RBIs and seven runs.
Harper’s homer off Ryne Stanek in the seventh made it 9-1. Soto added a solo shot off Jose Alvarado in the eighth to put him one homer shy of 30 stolen bases and 40 home runs — a feat only accomplished by 15 players in history. Ryan Helsley let up two runs on three hits in the eighth, and Brett Baty singled in a run in the ninth.
“There’s part of the game where in times like these, it can be tough because there’s definitely a lot of noise,” Holmes said. “I think there’s still that belief [in here]. All it takes is one little spark. You never know what kind of run you’ll go on.”
The Mets just have to make sure it’s in the right direction.
Notes & quotes: Tylor Megill is consulting more doctors after getting an MRI on his arm Monday, Mendoza said. Megill, rehabbing from an elbow sprain, experienced “tightness” in his arm in a game with Triple-A Syracuse Sunday and was shut down. Tommy John surgery has not yet been discussed, Mendoza said . . . Jesse Winker (back) is officially done for the season, but still doesn’t have a diagnosis, Mendoza said.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
