Mets beat Phillies 6-5 in 11 innings to avoid home-and-home sweep
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pete Alonso homered, J.D. Martinez hit a go-ahead single in the 11th inning and the New York Mets overcame another blown save by Edwin Díaz, avoiding a four-game sweep in a home-and-home set with a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
Starling Marte had two hits for the Mets, who followed a closed-door meeting held by rookie manager Carlos Mendoza on Wednesday night by winning their second game in the last seven.
“The guys continued to battle,” Mendoza said. “Overall, what a great team win.”
Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm hit RBI doubles for the major league-leading Phillies (31-14), who lost for only the fourth time in 20 games. Philadelphia is 10 games ahead of the Mets in the NL East.
“We were resilient the whole night and kept trying to find a way to come back,” Schwarber said. “We just weren’t able to get that big one at the end. New one tomorrow.”
The Phillies won twice in New York on Monday and Tuesday and took the opener of the two-game series in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The rare home-and-home set was scheduled to accommodate a two-game series between the teams June 8-9 in London.
Díaz gave up a run in the ninth as the Phillies tied it 4-all, his second consecutive blown save and third in four chances since May 5.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I just have to find a way to get the last out.”
Neither team scored in the 10th, but the Mets went in front with two runs in the 11th off José Alvarado (1-2).
Martinez grounded the first pitch into right field to score automatic runner Francisco Lindor from second base, and Harrison Bader doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Alvarado struck out the next two batters before Martinez scored on a wild pitch.
Jorge López (1-0) worked a scoreless inning and Jake Diekman pitched out of a jam in the 11th for his first save since 2022 with Boston.
“Huge for us,” Mets starter Jose Quintana said. “We stayed together.”
Philadelphia loaded the bases with one out in the 11th and pulled within a run on Bryson Stott’s groundout. Diekman struck out Schwarber with runners on second and third to end it after 3 hours, 29 minutes.
Schwarber hurled his bat toward the Philadelphia dugout.
“You want to thrive in those spots, not just personally, but you want to come through for the team,” he said.
The teams traded leads in the late innings.
After the Phillies went ahead with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, the Mets regained the lead with a pair of runs in the eighth. Stott tied it in the ninth with a one-out RBI single off Díaz.
Alonso drove his 10th homer of the season 439 feet deep into the left-field seats in the first.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: Philadelphia starter Taijuan Walker exited in the fourth with a bruised left foot after getting hit by Marte’s line drive. X-rays were negative, and he’ll be evaluated further on Friday. Walker allowed two runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings against his former team. … SS Trea Turner (strained left hamstring) took grounders before the game. Turner was injured on May 3 and is expected to miss at least four more weeks.
Mets: OF Brandon Nimmo was a late scratch from the lineup due to illness.
UP NEXT
Mets: Rookie RHP Christian Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA) faces Marlins LHP Jesús Luzardo (0-3, 5.97) on Friday night in the first of three games at Miami.
Phillies: RHP Zack Wheeler (4-3, 2.53 ERA) opposes Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (2-3, 3.55) in the opener of a three-game set Friday night.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb