Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
The Phillies kept the pressure on Saturday as they defeated the New York Mets 6-1 in a rain-shortened game in the bottom of the seventh. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner each notched home runs for the Phillies as Turner went 3-for-4 on the day with three runs scored.
“Trea’s in a good spot,” interim manager Don Mattingly commented after the game. “Today was a really good day for him. But when he's going, it seems like it gets a lot easier for us offensively. it puts speed on the bases and puts them in pressure spots.”
Jesús Luzardo continued to dominate, allowing only one earned run while striking out seven Mets batters. The performance earned him his ninth win of the season and the 50th on his young career.
The contest, moved up by an hour due to the threat of rain later in the evening, included a 48-minute rain delay in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With two outs in the first, Jesús Luzardo issued two consecutive walks to Bo Bichette and Francisco Alvarez, a spot of early trouble. Luzardoquickly worked out of it though as he got Carson Benge to hit a dribbler right in front of home plate, ending the inning on a 2-3 putout.
Trea Turner opened the Phillies’ half of the first with a hard-hit single that deflected off Bichette at third. Kyle Schwarber then erased any lingering concern about his Home Run Derby workload, crushing a Manaea cutter into the second deck for a two-run homer.
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Five pitches later, Bryce Harper was wincing on his way to first base after getting hit by a pitch from Manaea. The fastball hit Harper right in the hand, prompting the Phillies to get Harper looked at before allowing him to remain in the game.
The Mets responded in the second as Tyrone Taylor took Luzardo into left center field for a solo shot. A.J. Ewing sought to keep the Mets’ momentum going after reaching base on an error by Turner, but Luzardo locked down the Mets from there with back-to-back strikeouts to maintain the lead.
The Phillies threatened to score in the bottom of the fourth, getting runners on the corners with one out before back-to-back strikeouts from Derek Hill and Bryson Stott ended the inning.
Turner took matters into his own hands as he led off the bottom of the fifth, slinging a home run 414 feet into left center field.
Schwarber worked Manaea to a full count walk to keep momentum going. While Harper was up to bat, Alvarez attempted to pick off Schwarber at first following a 2-2 pitch from Manaea. The pickoff attempt went wide, sailing down the right field line and allowing Schwarber to reach third on the two-base throwing error.
Though Harper was unable to score Schwarber, Alec Bohm was, slipping a single into left field to increase the Phillies’ lead to 4-1. The Phillies continued to threaten on the inning, eventually loading the bases, but they would not score again on the inning.
Now with a 4-1 lead, the Phillies went to the bullpen for the top of the sixth inning. Orion Kerkering entered, pitching a 1-2-3 shutdown inning. Luzardo watched on knowing he had clocked in another strong outing for the Phillies. The solo home run was the only knock against him as he allowed four baserunners on two hits and two walks on the day. In five innings of work, Luzardo struck out seven batters.
When asked about Luzardo’s performance, Mattingly noted that he would have let Luzardo pitch the sixth inning but his pitch count was beginning to creep up after a couple long innings to start the day.
“[Luzardo] just threw a lot of pitches those first couple innings and then kind of settled in and quickened up after that.”
The Phillies’ offense, however, did not just settle in after their 4-1 lead. Bryson Stott slapped a triple into center field to lead off the bottom of the sixth. With the top of the order due up, the Mets pitched around Turner and Schwarber, eventually walking both to load the bases with no outs.
Harper drove a single into right field, scoring both Stott and Turner to give the Phillies the 6-1 lead that would eventually be called final.
After a leadoff single from J.T. Realmuto in the bottom of the seventh, the rain picked up in Citizens Bank Park, forcing the game into a rain delay. 48 minutes later, game play resumed.
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With a full count prior to the delay, Hill struck out on one pitch to resume the game, his fourth strikeout of the day. The Phillies threatened with a second single from Turner, but they would not plate another run on hte inning.
Chase Shugart entered the game in the top of the eighth and took the Phillies the remainder of the way, retiring the final six Mets in order to secure the 6-1 victory.
Jesús Luzardo earned the win, his ninth of the season, while the Phillies have not lost an outing by Luzardo since May 19.
The win was also the 50th win of Luzardo’s career. His ERA fell to 3.42 on the year as his 143 strikeouts place him fifth in the majors, one strikeout behind Cristopher Sánchez.
The Phillies hold a 5-3 advantage in the season series against the Mets. Alan Rangel will face Nolan McLean in Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. series finale as Philadelphia looks to secure the series win.
