By Jen McCaffrey, Matt Gelb, Tim Britton and Will Sammon
Nick Castellanos’ single to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in the winning run for the Philadelphia Phillies over the New York Mets in a wild, back-and-forth affair on Sunday night.
The 7-6 walk-off win for the Phillies tied the National League Division Series 1-1 as the teams head to New York for Game 3 on Tuesday.
In a game that had five lead changes, the Phillies, who owned the best home record in baseball in the regular season, managed to avoid two losses at Citizens Bank Park to begin the best-of-five series.
On the strength of four home runs, none bigger than Mark Vientos’ two-run, game-tying shot in the ninth inning, the Mets nearly pulled off the feat before Castellanos’ walk-off heroics.
Vientos gave the Mets an early 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run shot.
Pete Alonso added to New York’s lead with a solo homer in the sixth, making it 3-0, but the Phillies’ offense finally awoke in the bottom of the inning. In the span of three pitches, the Phillies tied the game at 3-3 as Bryce Harper crushed a two-run homer and Nick Castellanos followed two pitches later with a solo shot off Mets starter Luis Severino.
Severino had cruised through five innings before hanging two fastballs over the middle of the plate to Harper and Castellanos, sparking a frustrated Phillies offense and igniting the home crowd.
But, minutes later, Brandon Nimmo sucked the life out of the crowd with a solo homer to give New York a 4-3 lead in the seventh.
The Phillies bounded back once again in the eighth on an electrifying two-run triple from Bryson Stott, swinging momentum back in their favor. Stott later scored when Vientos misplayed a groundball at third base, giving Philadelphia a 6-4 lead.
But Vientos made up for the miscue with his second homer of the night, another two-run shot to tie the score in the top of the ninth.
The Mets’ magic ran out in the bottom of the inning as Castellanos connected off Tylor Megill to send the Phillies to victory. — McCaffrey
FEELING GR8 pic.twitter.com/rDBIN8t7W9
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 6, 2024
The Mets’ bullpen couldn’t close the door
After pitching lights-out to close Game 1, the Mets’ bullpen couldn’t seal the deal in Game 2. New York handed a one-run lead in the seventh to Jose Buttó, hoping the righty and closer Edwin Díaz could combine for nine outs and a 2-0 series lead. They each recorded only two outs, with Díaz surrendering three runs in the eighth inning to give Philadelphia the lead.
The pen got a reprieve with Vientos’ game-tying two-run homer in the top of the ninth. But Megill, a starter pitching in relief, allowed the walk-off single to Castellanos in the ninth. Megill had walked Trea Turner and Harper with two outs to create the jam. — Britton
One swing jolted the Phillies from their slumber
Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez set a high target for Severino in the sixth inning with Harper at the plate. It was a 2-2 count and, to that moment, Severino had wielded total control over the game. Severino wanted to blow one past Harper. He threw it 99 mph — his hardest fastball all game — and he missed his spot.
Harper demolished it. The ball smashed off the batter’s eye in center field. The Phillies were alive.
BACK#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/zv4zvNZSH3
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 6, 2024
Until then, the at-bats looked like much of the same. A lot of chasing by the Phillies. Not a lot of fastballs from the Mets. Severino has leaned on his fastball for much of this season but he changed his attack plan Sunday. He was sharp. He was efficient. But Harper has often talked about how much he loves the moment — and he has risen to it more times than not.
Castellanos followed with a homer to tie it. The Phillies had to erase another deficit later in the game, but their better at-bats forced New York to summon its closer, Díaz, with two outs in the seventh inning. They worked deeper counts. Finally, they made Mets pitchers sweat.
It all started with Harper punishing a mistake. — Gelb
The Mets’ power showed up
Oh, that’s right. The Mets can hit home runs, too.
In the playoffs, the Mets have found a variety of ways to score, often stringing together hits late in games. They didn’t need to rely on power. But they’ll certainly take it.
It was the first time this postseason (their fifth game) that they hit more than one home run in a game. And before Sunday’s outburst, Alonso’s season-saving home run against Milwaukee lingered as the Mets’ only homer in the playoffs.
The Mets hit their share of home runs in the regular season (207, sixth in baseball), and they come in handy during October, when it seems like aces are always pitching.
The three Mets players who hit the home runs matter plenty — they’re New York’s Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hitters. Vientos hit the first home run, which gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez had thrown 893 changeups to right-handed batters without giving up a home run until Vientos ended that streak. Alonso’s home run in the sixth made it 3-0. Nimmo’s opposite-field home run in the seventh gave the Mets a 4-3 lead. Then when the Phillies claimed the lead in the eighth, Vientos responded with his second home run, a two-run shot that silenced the crowd and tied the score at 6-6 in the ninth. — Sammon
MARK VIENTOS TIES IT FOR THE @METS!
THIS GAME!!! pic.twitter.com/GQOx1ruACB
— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2024
Questionable pitching decision deepened early deficit
The Phillies entered this series with five trusted relievers, although New York’s righty-heavy lineup has neutralized left-hander José Alvarado. Sánchez gave the Phillies five solid innings and, in the sixth, manager Rob Thomson turned to veteran righty José Ruiz. He was not among those five trusted relievers. Ruiz surrendered a solo homer to Pete Alonso on a hanging curveball.
It was a curious decision, given that Ruiz was deployed as a lower-leverage reliever for much of the season. The Phillies liked how he pitched in September, but he’s been prone to home runs. They were trailing by two runs in the sixth inning of a game they had to have. And as Ruiz fell into further trouble, Orion Kerkering started to throw. Maybe it should have been Kerkering’s inning to begin with.
Maybe it didn’t matter. Kerkering pitched the seventh and surrendered a go-ahead homer to Nimmo. Thomson, before the game, said he would not manage any differently despite facing an early-series deficit for the first time in three postseasons.
“In every game in the playoffs, it’s crunch time,” Thomson said. “Whether you’re up 3-0 or down 3-0. So you just make the right move. Make the move that you think is right.” — Gelb
(Top photo: Hunter Martin / Getty Images)
