At Least J.D. Davis Got To Play For Soon To Be Third Place Mets
The Philadelphia Phillies started the left-handed Ranger Suarez, who was only slated to go about three innings. The New York Mets completely overreacted to this.
Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith didn’t start. Instead, it was J.D. Davis and Kevin Pillar, who were a combined 0-for-6 with three strikeouts through the first eight innings.
Really, the entire Mets offense had looked inept through the first eight innings. They only had two hits and just one extra base hit came from Tylor Megill in the fifth. Of course, he would be stranded.
Megill was really good for four innings. Unfortunately, the Phillies would get to him in the fifth. Brad Miller hit a solo shot, and Odubel Herrera hit a three run homer to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead.
Megill was out after 4.2 innings. He allowed those four earned on five hits and one walk while striking out five.
The Phillies lead would grow to 5-0 when Miller hit his second solo shot of the game. That one came off Yennsy Diaz in the eighth.
With the Mets appearing to be playing out the string in this one, the Phillies went to Mauricio Llovera to mop it up. That proved to be a giant mistake as Michael Conforto, Jonathan Villar, and James McCann went back-to-back-to-back to pull the Mets to within 5-3.
Back to back to back! @mconforto8 @JRvillar6 @McCannon33 pic.twitter.com/DvZuoGd0uP
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 7, 2021
That forced the Phillies to bring in their newly obtained closer Ian Kennedy. It was very rocky for Kennedy. Pillar greeted him with a single. After a McNeil pinch hit foul out, Brandon Nimmo drew a walk bringing up Pete Alonso as the go-ahead run.
Now, the talking point around the Mets has been their troubles hitting the fastball. For whatever reason, they’re struggling and seem unprepared. Well, Kennedy took advantage of this getting Alonso to chase fastballs up and above the zone to strike himself out.
Kennedy then essentially repeated the act with Davis. Fittingly, it was Davis who struck out to end the game.
With the loss, the Mets drop to 1.5 games out of first. They’re now also a game back in the loss column with Zack Wheeler starting for the Phillies tomorrow. To make it all the better, the Mets are an Atlanta Braves win within dropping to third.