The Mets got a great start from Marcus Stroman and attacked against the Phillies’ bullpen in an 8-4 win on Tuesday.
Takeaways from Tuesday’s game
– Making his first regular-season start since the 2019 season, Marcus Stroman took the hill for the Mets. Stroman allowed a leadoff walk to Matt Joyce to start his night, but he quickly forced his first double-play ball of the year, as Alec Bohm bounced into a 4-6-3 twin killing.
– Pete Alonso recorded the Mets’ first extra-base hit of the season to lead off the second inning, smoking a double into the right-center field gap. A couple of batters later, J.D. Davis was hit by a Chase Anderson fastball in his left hand, which forced him to leave the game. The Mets put runners at first and third with two outs, but James McCann grounded out to end the inning.
– Stroman got into a jam in the second inning after allowing a pair of singles to J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura and then hitting Roman Quinn in the foot. But with the bases loaded and two outs, Anderson bounced out harmlessly to end the threat.
– The Mets struck first in the top of the fourth inning. After Alonso led off with a walk, Dom Smith delivered with a two-run home run to left field on a high fastball. After not being in the lineup in the Mets’ first game, Smith put the Mets up 2-0 on Tuesday.
– The Phillies got to Stroman in the bottom of the fourth, as Didi Gregorius lifted a sinker over the wall in center field, cutting the lead in half at 2-1. Gregorius’ home run was just the second hit by the Phillies in their first five games.
– Stroman continued to keep the ball down, and he got a great defensive play by Alonso behind him in the bottom of the sixth, as Alonso made a diving play towards the first base line to rob Gregorius of what would have been extra bases and a tie game.
In all, Stroman allowed just three hits over his 6.0 innings of work, giving up one earned run while striking out three and walking two. He also kept the ball down throughout his outing, recording 13 groundouts.
– In the seventh, Phillies reliever Vince Velazquez lost all command, walking four Mets, including Brandon Nimmo, which forced in the third run of the game for the Mets. Francisco Lindor then drove in his first run as a Met, lifting a sac fly to center to make it a 4-1 game. After a double steal and a Realmuto throw getting away from Gregorius to score another run, Michael Conforto doubled home the Mets’ fourth run of the inning, make it a 6-1 lead.
– Miguel Castro got into a little bit of trouble in the seventh, allowing back-to-back doubles from Adam Haseley and Rhys Hoskins to make it 6-2. After a wild pitch put runners at second and third, Castro got Bryce Harper to flyout to center to end the threat.
– After a tough first outing, Trevor May was right back out there for the eighth on Tuesday. He ran into issues again after allowing an infield hit to Gregorius, a Jean Segura single, and a wild pitch. But May was able to buckle down and record back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
– Alonso gave the Mets a little extra insurance with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth. Alonso’s 70th career homer came in his 220th career game, as he reached 70 home runs 11 games faster than any other player in MLB history (Aaron Judge had 70 through 231 games).
– Jeurys Familia had his own struggles in the ninth, allowing an infield hit to Haseley and then a bloop double to Hoskins which led to the Mets throwing the ball around a bit, bringing Haseley home. Later in the inning, Realmuto would bounce into a force out to bring home the Phillies’ fourth run, but Gregorius flew out to end the game.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Phillies face off again on Wednesday with an 4:05 p.m. matchup in Philadelphia. David Peterson will make the start for the Mets against Aaron Nola.