Phillies shut out again, have lost all 5 series to Mets this season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK — Maybe next weekend. Maybe then the Phillies can win a series against the 2022 New York Mets.
It didn’t happen this weekend. The Phillies suffered a 6-0 loss at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon to fall to 0-5 in series against the Mets this season. The two teams close out their season slate with four games at Citizens Bank Park next weekend.
Sunday’s loss dropped the Phillies to 4-11 on the season against the Mets.
The Phils are 59-40 against everyone else.
The Mets trotted out some stellar pitching in this three-game series and it did a job on the Phillies’ bat rack. The Phils scored just two runs in the series and were shut out twice. In fact, they’ve been shut out in three of their last four games.
The Phillies scored just one run in seven innings against Max Scherzer on Friday night, but prevailed, 2-1, in 10 innings.
The Phils were shut out, 1-0, Saturday night as Jacob deGrom and Aaron Nola hooked up in a brilliant pitchers’ duel.
On Sunday, Chris Bassitt joined the club with five shutout innings. The Mets’ bullpen did the rest.
The Phils played all three games without leadoff man and NL home run leader Kyle Schwarber in the starting lineup. He was limited to one pinch-hitting appearance because of a right calf strain.
Schwarber left Thursday’s game against Miami in the fifth inning. The Phils lost that one, 3-0. It’s not clear if Schwarber will be back in the lineup when the Phillies open a three-game series at Cincinnati on Monday night. After scoring just two runs in the previous four games, the Phillies could certainly use him.
The Phils had their top pitcher on the mound Sunday, but even Zack Wheeler couldn’t deliver a series win against the top team in the NL East. The Mets are 75-40 and 17-5 since the All-Star break with consecutive series against the division rival Braves and Phillies on the docket in the coming week.
Wheeler gave up a run in the first inning when Mets leadoff man Brandon Nimmo doubled high off the right-field wall and scored on a one-out single by Francisco Lindor.
The Mets blew the game open with four runs in the fourth inning. Wheeler gave up a one-out double to Pete Alonso and allowed a two-out, RBI single to Mark Canha on an 0-2 pitch. Wheeler allowed two more hits in the inning, but neither was hit hard. He also walked a batter and was not helped by his defense in the inning.
Wheeler had entered the game with a 1.97 ERA in his previous 18 starts. The six runs he gave up were the most he’s allowed since July 13 in Toronto. In his next four starts leading up to this one, he’d allowed one run three times and two times while pitching seven innings three times and six times.
Wheeler will see the Mets again next weekend in Philadelphia. He will be looking for a better performance — and some run support. The Phillies got the first two runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings against Bassitt on Sunday afternoon and both times came away empty.
The Phils were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position for the game and left 12 men on base. They struck out a total of 36 times in the three-game series and overall have struck out 49 times in the last four.
In addition to losing on the scoreboard, the Phils may have lost a reliever. Corey Knebel left the mound with an apparent injury after throwing 14 pitches in the seventh inning.