Philadelphia Phillies rally late but fall short in extra innings as New York Mets avoid home-and-home sweep
Pete Alonso homered, J.D. Martinez hit a go-ahead single in the 11th inning and the New York Mets overcame another blown save by Edwin Díaz, avoiding a four-game home-and-home sweep with a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
Starling Marte had two hits for the Mets, who followed a closed-door meeting held by rookie manager Carlos Mendoza on Wednesday night by winning their second game in the last seven.
Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm hit RBI doubles for the Phillies, who lost for only the fourth time in 20 games. NL East-leading Philadelphia is 10 games in front of the Mets.
The Phillies won a pair of games in New York on Monday and Tuesday and took the opener of the two-game series in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The rare home-and-home set was scheduled to accommodate a two-game series between the teams in London from June 8-9.
Díaz gave up a run in the ninth, his second consecutive blown save and third in four chances since May 5. Neither team scored in the 10th, but the went in front with two runs in the 11th off José Alvarado (1-2).
Martinez grounded the first pitch into right field to score automatic runner Francisco Lindor from second base. Harrison Bader doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Alvarado struck out the next two batters before Martinez scored on a wild pitch.
Jorge López (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th, and Jake Diekman earned his first save by getting out of a jam in the 11th.
Philadelphia loaded the bases with one out in the 11th and pulled within a run on Bryson Stott's groundout. Diekman struck out Schwarber with runners on second and third to end it after 3 hours, 29 minutes.
The teams traded leads in the late innings.
After the Phillies went ahead with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, the Mets regained the lead with a pair of runs in the eighth. Stott tied it in the ninth with a one-out RBI single off Díaz.
Alonso drove his 10th homer of the season 439 feet into the seats in deep left field in the first.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Phillies: Philadelphia starter Taijuan Walker exited in the fourth with a bruised left foot after getting hit by a liner from Marte. Walker allowed two runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings. … SS Trea Turner (strained left hamstring) took grounders before the game. Turner was injured on May 3 and is expected to miss at least four more weeks.
Mets: OF Brandon Nimmo was a late scratch from the lineup due to illness.
UP NEXT
Mets: Rookie RHP Christian Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA) faces Marlins LHP Jesús Luzardo (0-3, 5.97) on Friday night in the first of three games in Miami.
Phillies: RHP Zack Wheeler (4-3, 2.53 ERA) opposes Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (2-3, 3.55) in the opener of a three-game set Friday night.