Mets continue June swoon, bobble game away to Phillies
Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo, left, cannot catch a fly ball by Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber as second baseman Jeff McNeil, center, and shortstop Francisco Lindor collide during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 23, 2023, in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
PHILADELPHIA — Showing no signs of pulling themselves out of this horrid stretch, the Mets lost to the Phillies, 5-1, on Friday night.
All of the Phillies’ runs resulted from the Mets’ failure to catch two routine pop-ups.
The Mets’ third loss in a row also was their 14th in the last 18 games. They are 34-41 and have dropped to 7 1⁄2 games back of a playoff spot — not the division, which comes with a deficit about double that, but the last wild-card position in the National League.
“There was a lot more to the game than that, but I understand why that’s the focus,” manager Buck Showalter said, adding later: “I know everybody is going to dwell on the two we didn’t and rightfully so. But there’s some people making quality defensive plays too.”
Brandon Nimmo said of the Mets’ rash of game-altering miscues: “It has been happening more often than last year. I don’t really have an answer as to why that is.”
The Mets totaled three hits. Former Met Taijuan Walker allowed one run (on Nimmo’s homer) in six innings.
The first ugly misplay came from Nimmo in the first inning. Leadoff man Kyle Schwarber skied a fly ball to medium-depth centerfield, and Nimmo called off infielders Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil. They obliged. Nimmo dropped the ball for his first error since September 2021. The Phillies wound up scoring two unearned runs in the inning.
“I didn’t get the best jump on it . . . The ball was shallower than I thought,” Nimmo said. “It just went off the end of my glove. Kind of just got away from me. Not much other than it just got away from me and went off the end of the glove.”
The second ugly misplay came from Lindor in the sixth. Brandon Marsh sent a fly ball to shallow leftfield and Lindor went out for it. Leftfielder Tommy Pham wasn’t particularly close. At the last moment, Lindor deferred to nobody and ducked. The ball landed on the grass untouched for an RBI single.
The Phillies added two more two-out runs during the rally.
“That one’s on me,” Lindor said. “I should’ve taken full charge of the ball. It’s a pop-up that I’ve made many times and I’ll make it. Today, that one was on me.”
Those yielded a funky final line for Kodai Senga, who in 5 1⁄3 innings was charged with four runs, two earned — and even those only technically so.
“In this league, the team that makes the least number of mistakes wins,” Senga said through an interpreter. “As for myself, I missed locations, I walked batters. Those are mistakes I made. I know on the field, there were a couple of mistakes. Each one of us needs to reflect back on the type of mistakes we made and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
