With Mets not needing to face Marlins on Monday, loss to Phillies closes curtain on season
Mets manager Buck Showalter and Francisco Lindor interact after a visit to the mound during the ninth inning of a baseball game, against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. Credit: AP/Noah K. Murray
Mercy arrived at 5:42 p.m. in the form of a pop-up to leftfield off the bat of Pete Alonso.
When the ball settled into the glove of Phillies shortstop Edmundo Sosa, the Mets were free. Their horrendous season — based on payroll, expectations and outcome, perhaps the biggest failure of a season in franchise history — was over with a 9-1 loss.
They will not return to Citi Field on Monday to finish the game against the Marlins that was suspended in the ninth inning Thursday. Because the outcome of that contest proved irrelevant for playoff seeding, MLB opted not to make the postseason-bound Marlins return to New York for less than an inning.
However, as of Sunday night, MLB had not decided how that game will go down in the official record. The Marlins led 2-1 at the time of suspension; they had just rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth.
The Mets led 1-0 after eight innings, so if the final score reverts to the last full frame, they would get the win. The statistics from the game, including David Peterson’s seven scoreless innings, will count.
The Mets finished (sort of) with a 74-87 record, pending a resolution to the above. That represents their fewest wins in a full season since 2017 — a year that, like this one, ended with a managerial change.
Against the Phillies on Sunday, the Mets totaled two hits, which was twice as many as they had in their last game last season. Tim Locastro blasted a home run to left for their only run.
Righthander Jose Butto allowed two runs in six innings. In nine games (seven starts), he had a 3.64 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.
The Phillies, who will host the Marlins in a best-of-three wild-card round beginning Tuesday, blew it open with six runs in the ninth off Denyi Reyes and Anthony Kay.
Francisco Alvarez left the game before the eighth after taking a foul tip off his right ankle in the seventh. He was due to receive medical imaging to make sure nothing is wrong, Buck Showalter said after managing his last game with the Mets.
“I’m a little concerned about Alvy,” Showalter said. “He got it in between the Achilles tendon and his heel. If he has to come out of a game, it’s a fight. They’re going to get some pictures to make sure we don’t send him out of here with an issue.”
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.
