PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 03: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with Bryce Harper #3 after hitting a walk off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park on September 3, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Nationals 6-5 in extra innings. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Philadelphia Phillies added to the misery of New York Mets fans on Thursday evening.
There’s less than two weeks remaining in the MLB regular season, and the Philadelphia Phillies hold the seventh seed in the National League. They entered their series earlier this week looking to extend their league over the rival New York Mets. Philadelphia took Game 1 of the slate of games, and New York took the second matchup, but not without losing ace pitcher Jacob deGrom to a hamstring injury. There’s no way things could get any worse for the Mets…but they did.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Phillies trailed the Mets 3-0, thanks to a two-RBI double by first baseman Dominic Smith and an RBI single from second baseman Robinson Cano. All the Mets needed was for pitcher Seth Lugo to have a good start. That didn’t happen.
Bryce Harper, Didi Gregorius and Adam Haseley hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs to tie the contest at three runs apiece.
Harper wasn’t done after that
The home run barrage wasn’t over after the first inning. Harper stepped up to the plate in the second inning, and sent a Lugo pitch deep to right field, where it narrowly landed in the third deck of Citizens Bank Park! Friendly reminder that Harper went three weeks without a home run recently. That’s not an issue for him anymore!
Lugo didn’t last too long after that mammoth home run by Harper. After surrendering an RBI single to Jean Segura, Lugo was pulled from the game in favor of Erasmo Ramirez. Lugo surrendered eight hits and six earned runs in just 1.2 innings of work.
The Phillies appear to be coasting to a MLB postseason berth, while the Mets’ chances are starting to evaporate.