Dominic Smith goes 4-for-4 as Mets beat Phillies for seventh consecutive series win
As Buck Showalter likes to say:“ Tell the baseball gods your plans and they’ ll laugh in your face.”. Dominic Smith may have been on the chopping block, but then he crushed too many baseballs to care. The Mets won their seventh-straight series to start the year, becoming the first team to win their first seven series since the 2018 Diamondbacks.
As Buck Showalter likes to say: “Tell the baseball gods your plans and they’ll laugh in your face.”
Dominic Smith may have been on the chopping block, but then he crushed too many baseballs to care. Smith enjoyed a 4-for-4 night at the plate with three RBI and a run scored, helping lead the Mets to a 10-6 win over the Phillies on Sunday night at Citi Field. Smith matched his career-high of four hits in a game, doing so for the first time since Sept. 6, 2020, which was also against the Phillies.
The Mets (16-7) won their seventh-straight series to start the year, becoming the first team to win their first seven series since the 2018 Diamondbacks.
Smith is among the few Mets players, alongside J.D. Davis and Luis Guillorme, who have minor-league options ahead of Monday’s noon deadline to trim rosters down to 26 men. Smith entered Sunday night batting 6-for-36 across 19 games with limited opportunities to contribute in an everyday role due to Pete Alonso’s custody of first base and the revolving door at designated hitter.
“When you don’t have consistent at-bats, it’s kind of unfair to yourself to only base your success on getting base hits,” Smith said. “I try to focus on having good at-bats and swinging at good pitches. When you come off the bench, you have to be realistic … Tonight it was just good to have some success, finally.”
But after Smith filled up his column in the scorecard with a single, an RBI double, a two-run single and—just for good measure—another single, he forced the Mets hand. If the Mets, after Smith’s breakout night at the plate, decide to include him as part of their two roster cuts on Monday, it will be both cold-blooded and a point of anger for their fan base.
Even so, the Mets could still surprise everyone and demote Smith to the minors. Or they could release Robinson Cano, who is still owed $40 million through the 2023 season. Smith chalked it up to the “business of baseball” and said he hasn’t really thought about the Mets’ roster decision.
“It’s definitely going to be a very emotional day, no matter who it is,” Smith said. “It’ll be something to see. I think this team has really grown to love each other and love playing with each other. Tomorrow will be interesting.”
Max Scherzer (4-0, 2.61 ERA) wasn’t his most dominant self on Sunday against a tough Phillies lineup, but he still managed to earn his fourth win as a Met and extend his unbeaten-starts streak to 24 consecutive outings.
Scherzer allowed four runs on five hits, including three home runs, with one walk and nine strikeouts in his six-inning start at Citi Field. The right-hander came out firing, striking out the first five batters he faced, before a certain divisional enemy opened the floodgates.
“There was a lot of good, and some bad,” Scherzer said. “I made a couple of bad pitches and they were able to get homers on it. Our offense had a better night and that’s the most important thing.”
Kyle Schwarber, the ongoing Mets killer, became the ultimate Mets killer on Sunday when he hit not one, but two home runs off Scherzer. Schwarber has cranked 16 home runs in his first 36 games against the Mets, including 11 since the start of last season. Schwarber and the Phillies will meet the Mets again before the week is over, when the Amazin’s go to Philly on Thursday for a four-game series.
On Monday, the Mets will take on their next NL East division rival, the second-place Braves, in a four-game series at Citi Field. This week will feature the first meeting of the season between the Mets and Braves, and Chris Bassitt will kick off the series opener with his fifth start of the year.
But, well before then, the Mets will announce which two players they’re cutting from the roster. Mets manager Buck Showalter said there was a lot of “healthy debate” in the front office about the team’s decision, while the general atmosphere in the Mets clubhouse, following a win no less, was already gloomy.
“It’s going to be painful,” Showalter said. “We’ve got some good players.”
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