Mets steal NLDS Game 1 from Phillies with five-run rally in eighth
Mets' Mark Vientos (27) reacts at second base after a hit in the eighth inning during Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Oct. 5, 2024. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
PHILADELPHIA — A couple of hours into Game 1 of their NL Division Series with the Phillies, the Mets were right where they wanted to be: down by a little headed into the late innings.
For some reason, that is their sweet spot. These Mets thrive when the circumstances grow dire. They seem to like when the going gets tough. What’s the fun without drama?
They had lots of fun and just as much drama in the eighth inning of a 6-2 comeback win Saturday, stealing the opener of the best-of-five series after former Met and current Phillies ace Zack Wheeler shut them down for seven innings.
The Mets had one hit entering the eighth. Then they rallied for five hits and five runs off three Philadelphia relievers in that frame: All-Stars Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm plus Orion Kerkering.
“Again,” J.D. Martinez said. “How many times have you seen it? It’s just one of those things.”
David Peterson said: “We have complete faith in [the hitters] to continue to do their job. Eventually, they’re going to break through and break those guys.”
In the Mets’ first moments facing anybody other than Wheeler, Francisco Alvarez lined a leadoff single to center and Francisco Lindor, down 0-and-2, worked a walk.
Mark Vientos’ single tied the score. Brandon Nimmo’s single put the Mets ahead. Pete Alonso and Starling Marte contributed sacrifice flies, and Martinez’s pinch-hit single brought in another.
Jose Iglesias didn’t directly figure into the scoring, but his at-bat was as representative of the Mets’ resiliency as any: down 0-and-2, seven consecutive foul balls, single lined up the middle.
“It was stunning — it was — to see Hoffy and Strahmy give it up like that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But that’s baseball sometimes. They haven’t done that since we’ve had them, really.”
Altogether, the Mets’ accidental strategy felt familiar: fall behind early, practically blow it open late.
On Monday in Atlanta, they were shut out through seven innings, then scored eight times in the final two innings to clinch a playoff berth. On Thursday in Milwaukee, they were shut out through eight innings, then scored four times in the final frame to win the Wild Card Series.
So this was merely more of the same from the never-say-die Mets.
“For us to be able to get to [Wheeler], at least not let him throw a complete game, that’s kind of a win in that situation, and to be able to get to the bullpen and see what happens,” Nimmo said.
The Mets’ pieced-together pitching, meanwhile, was close to perfect. The Mets countered Wheeler with Kodai Senga (two innings, one run), Peterson (three innings) and Reed Garrett (two innings). The Phillies’ only run came on Kyle Schwarber’s home run into the second deck in rightfield to lead off the bottom of the first.
The Mets rolled with Senga — in only his second game of a season derailed by shoulder, triceps and calf injuries — knowing he would be limited to about two innings. They figured that was better than their alternatives, especially with fellow starting pitchers Peterson and Tylor Megill available behind him in long relief.
“It was hard to map out because we didn’t know what we were getting out of Senga,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He was really good, by the way.”
They wound up with Peterson as the preference beginning in the third inning. He wasn’t capable of providing a full starter’s load after he pitched out of the bullpen — and picked up the save — two days earlier against the Brewers. But he still navigated a full third of the game without allowing a run, scattering one run and three walks.
“Everybody that we needed was ready to go,” Peterson said. “It felt like a 0-0 ballgame the entire time.”
Wheeler, among the premier postseason stalwarts of his generation, was excellent. The Mets had one hard-hit batted ball against him, from Lindor, the first hitter of the game. His lineout to first baseman Bryce Harper came off the bat at 104 mph. Vientos’ soft line-drive single in the fourth was their only hit off him. Wheeler struck out nine and collected a career-high 30 swing-and-misses.
“Especially in the shadows early on, it’s just like, dude, this guy is throwing airplanes up there,” Martinez said. “The ball is taking off every which way. Good luck. We just gotta get him out of the game.”
Nimmo said: “Philadelphia is an unbelievable team. And we played very, very tough games throughout the regular season, dogfight games. So being able to get the first one is really important . . . It puts pressure on the other side right away.”
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.
