– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — To a man, the Philadelphia Phillies players were adamant that the best way to get over getting no-hit last night was to forget about it. It was hard to forget about the zeroes their offense was continuing to put up almost 24 hours later, but Kyle Schwarber put an end to the team’s offensive malaise just in time to get back on the win column.
Schwarber launched a two-run home run in the seventh inning, the start of a three-run rally that lifted the Phillies to a 4-1 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field. Philadelphia’s bullpen twice escaped bases loaded jams late in the game to preserve the victory.
The 32 runs the Phillies scored in their last series, a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, were made a distant memory by the Mets on Friday night, who used five pitchers to throw a combined no-hitter, the second no-no in the history of the Mets franchise. After being retired in order in the first inning tonight, the Phillies recorded their first hit since Thursday on a Nick Castellanos single to lead off the second inning. Soon after, Castellanos was picked off of first base by Mets starter Taijuan Walker, who ended up throwing five scoreless innings and left with a 1-0 lead after a Francisco Lindor fielder’s choice scored Nimmo in the fifth.
Philadelphia averted disaster later in that fifth inning, as Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Gibson soon walked Jeff McNeil to load the bases before Jose Alvarado came in to strike out both Eduardo Escobar and Jeff McNeil to limit the damage to just one run.
The scoreless innings streak for the Phillies offense was at 16 when the bats finally awoke in the seventh. After a one-out walk to J.T. Realmuto, Schwarber lifted a 2-1 fastball from Mets reliever Adam Ottavino into the bleachers in right-center field for his fifth home run of the season and a 2-1 lead.
Alec Bohm followed Schwarber with a walk, then advanced to third on a stolen base and a throwing error on catcher James McCann. With two out, Odubel Herrera slapped a doubled down the left field line to cap a three-run seventh for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia tacked on a run in the eighth inning on a Rhys Hoskins solo shot, but then New York once again loaded the bases on the strength of two walks issued by former Met Jeurys Familia and a free pass by his replacement, Corey Knebel. Knebel bounced back by inducing a ground out from Brandon Nimmo to end the threat.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with all photos taken by ALOST photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are XX pictures in total.
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