One day after five Mets pitchers silenced the Phillies offense, the division rivals woke up against the Amazin’s bullpen and showed just how deep their lineup can be.
Adam Ottavino coughed up the Mets’ one-run lead when he gave up three earned runs on two hits, including a two-run home run to Kyle Schwarber, in the seventh inning of the Mets’ 4-1 loss to the Phillies on Saturday at Citi Field.
Ottavino said his fastball to Schwarber was a “full miss” and he shouldered the responsibility for letting the Phillies get ahead. Buck Showalter didn’t wait for Ottavino to complete the frame, as the skipper went to Sean Reid-Foley in relief.
“We know where he’s going to end up at the end of the year,” said Buck Showalter of Ottavino. “He hasn’t been there yet.”
Ottavino, who has a 4.70 ERA across 7.2 outings in relief, said: “Tonight was lousy obviously, not proud of that. But I like the way I’ve thrown the ball, so I’m going to focus on that. I take a lot of pride in nipping these things in the bud and getting on a good streak the next time out. I feel good physically, my pitches are fine, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t believe in myself.”
Reid-Foley induced a flyout for the final out of the seventh, but he opened the eighth by allowing a solo home run to Rhys Hoskins before exiting his outing with right elbow discomfort. Even though the Phillies did some late-game damage, the Mets had a few opportunities to crawl out of their three-run hole.
But the Mets offense squandered those opportunities, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 13 men on base. The Amazin’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a pair of free passes from former Mets reliever Jeurys Familia, but Brandon Nimmo grounded out against Corey Knebel to leave the bases loaded and wipe out the brewing offensive threat.
“It’s tough to think you’re going to win a game 1-0, especially against a team like them,” Showalter said. “We didn’t take advantage of the baserunners out there.”
On the bright side, Taijuan Walker continued the rotation’s excellent performance in his return from the injured list. With his shoulder bursitis completely behind him, Walker pitched five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits across 73 pitches against the Phillies.
Saturday was only Walker’s second outing of the season after he missed two turns through the rotation on the IL. David Peterson, who has since been demoted to Triple-A Syracuse, replaced Walker in the starting staff and excelled in his assignment from Day 1. Walker had left his season debut on April 11 against the Phillies after two perfect innings. Peterson took the ball from him in the third inning of that game and he never looked back, compiling 14 innings of one-run ball across three outings while Walker was sidelined on the IL.
But Peterson was a seventh-string depth starter and, with ace Jacob deGrom on the IL, Walker is the Mets’ No. 3 arm. He pitched like one on Saturday, albeit with a shorter hook. Since Walker also dealt with knee soreness in spring training, leading to a shorter ramp-up and a limited pitch count, the Mets ensured that Walker would stretch out up to four innings in his previous rehab outings. As such, it was encouraging that Walker pitched five innings against the Phillies at Citi Field, with terrific results to boot.
“I think one more outing where I’m limited, as far as pitch count, but after that I feel like I’ll be able to go 6-7-8 innings and just keep up with our starters right now,” said Walker, who will again face the Phillies in his next outing. “Everyone’s going deep into games, so that’s the goal for me right now.”
The Mets pitching staff extended its hitless streak to 10 innings, picking up from Friday’s combined no-hitter, after Walker retired the side in the first. It wasn’t until Nick Castellanos’ leadoff single in the second inning that the Phillies finally got a hit, which was also the first hit Mets pitchers gave up since Wednesday in St. Louis.
The Mets (15-7) finished April with a .682 winning percentage, tied with the 2016 team for the fourth-best March/April winning percentage in franchise history. Next up is trying to extend their strong start into May, a month that has historically been unkind to the organization.
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