Abel not able to keep the ball in the park: Mets 11, Phillies 4

It was a rough night for the Mick

Well, they were kind of due for a game like that. Having lost seven in a row, the Mets’ offense, so inept of late, broke out in a big way, hammering away at Mick Abel and the rest of the pitching staff to take a game from the Phillies and re-tie the National League East.

Abel started the game by allowing a home run to Brandon Nimmo with one out to give the Mets an early lead.

New York got two more runners on, but Abel was able to avoid that damage to keep the score there. The Phillies would answer back against Griffin Canning when Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm had back to back singles with one out to bring up Nick Castellanos. A double tied the game at one, followed by an RBI groundout by Max Kepler to give the Phillies a lead.

In the second, Otto Kemp doubled with one out, went to third on a groundout by Brandon Marsh, then with Trea Turner at the plate, scampered home on a wild pitch to make the score 3-1 and give the Phillies a bit more momentum.

Momentum is a funny thing. We see it in other sports often. Basketball teams go on long scoring runs, desperate hockey teams can score a few goals in a row if they are putting pressure on and in football, well, we know about momentum there. The Phillies had it here in this game, but Abel struggled. In the third, he gave up back to back to back home runs to Francisco Lindor, Nimmo (his second of the night) and Juan Soto to swing the lead back in the Mets’ favor.

That ended Abel’s night after he finished the inning, another one where he couldn’t make it far out of the first few frames. Joe Ross would relieve and do a decent job to keep the score close except for, well, for this.

Good gravy.

The Phillies got one back thanks to an RBI single by Bohm that scored Turner, but that was as close as they got. Ross had two more charged to his name in the sixth inning when a ball hit by Lindor off of Tanner Banks was roughly misread by Castellanos in right, getting those two runs to make it 7-4.

It might be hard, but yes, it was misread. Maybe John Smoltz thought it was going foul, but it’s rare that we see a ball hit into that corner that doesn’t stay true to its flight. Playing the ball off the wall may have kept a run from crossing, maybe have kept it closer than it was at that time.

Instead, Michael Mercado made sure that it was a nonfactor by allowing three runs in the eighth inning to make it 10-4, including Soto’s fourth hit of the game and fourth RBI as well. The Mets tacked on another run in the ninth on a Francisco Alvarez home run, but it didn’t matter.

They were due for a game like this and delivered one. Now for the rubber match tomorrow.