Wheeler struggles, bats quiet again as Phillies lose to Mets in Game 1 of DH, originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Phillies’ inability to score consistently remains a big problem as they again lost to the New York Mets in Game 1 of their doubles match Saturday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park team.
Zach Wheeler was unable to stop the Mets for the second time in less than a week as the Phillies fell 8-2. In the last nine games, they tried to hold on to their second NL wild card spot, followed by San Diego and Milwaukee. Four of the six losses on the slip came against the Mets, who have a job for the Phillies in 2022.
Philadelphia is 4-13 against the Mets this season heading into its second doubles game Saturday night. Bailey Falter is scheduled to play David Peterson in a left-handed game.
Both teams will wrap up their season series on Sunday, and the Phillies will be thankful for that. They won 61-41 against teams other than the Mets.
Wheeler has lost two straight to the Mets, giving up 10 games in 11 1/3 innings. In any of his starts in the game, the offense was scoreless.
Over the past nine games, the Phillies are averaging just 2.3 points. They’ve hit home runs in nine of their last 10 games.
The Fils scored their first game Saturday afternoon with a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. By then, the Mets were 4-0. The Phils didn’t score again until the Mets defense allowed them to score in the bottom of the ninth. Lost 7-2 on Friday night.
Before Saturday, Wheeler had a 2.17 ERA in 15 starts this season night. He has a 4.82 ERA in seven day starts. Manager Rob Thomson let Wheeler choose which doubles game he wanted to start, and the pitcher chose to work in the sun.
Wheeler struggled with command issues in all of his 5 1/3 innings. He reached a season high with four walks while his 58/48 strikes were with the ball ratio is not good.
Wheeler pitched when necessary and got out of trouble several times in the first four innings. He was hurt by the bottom half of the Mets’ batting order in the fifth inning. Jeff McNeil singled out to the right, Tyler Naquin walked four pitches, and all scored on the right by No. 9 hitter Michael Perez on a soft pad.
Walk to Nakun was a killer in Game 5. He was 0 in his previous 17 games and had six straight strikeouts before the walk. Perez made it 1-1. He had 0 points on 19 shots before hitting the ball.
Wheeler walked two more batters in the sixth inning and let Francesco Lindor RBI triple and McNeil RBI single.
Mets rallies in fifth and sixth innings turn Citizens Bank Park into Citi Field in Delaware as day trip fans on Turnpike take over The home park of the Phillies. Over time, the Mets fans got louder. Their team hit another 3 in the first half of the ninth inning, and the Phillies were forced to use position player Darryl Hall to knock out the playoffs.
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