PHILADELPHIA — The Mets haven’t completely collapsed in the standings, but a collapse against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence as they try to hang on to that playoff spot.
The Phillies erased an early four-run lead to come back and defeat the Mets 6-4, completing a four-game sweep in the final meeting between the two NL East rivals of the 2025 season. With an 11-game lead over the Mets in the division, it’s safe to say the Phillies (87-60) are running away with the title for the third straight year.
Lucky for the Mets (76-71), the two teams chasing them in the Wild Card standings, the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds, were both off Thursday night. For now, they still hold a playoff spot, but barely. The Giants and Reds are 2.5 games behind the Mets, who have lost their last six straight games. Cincinnati is facing the A’s in Sacramento this weekend, and the Giants at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And to think, the game started off so well.
The Mets spotted left-hander David Peterson a 4-0 lead in the first inning, making left-hander Jesus Luzardo work. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto led off the game with back-to-back singles and executed a double-steal to get themselves in scoring position. After Pete Alonso struck out, Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo took singles off Luzardo to go up 1-0, and Starling Marte cleared the bases with a two-run double.
From there, Luzardo settled in, but the Mets’ issues were anything but settled. The left-hander was perfect over the next five innings, while Peterson struggled to maintain the lead.
Otto Kemp cut it in half with a two-run homer off Peterson in the fourth. Peterson gave up another run in the fifth before being relieved by right-hander Reed Garrett in the sixth. In yet another short outing from a Mets starter, Peterson gave up seven hits and three earned runs. He walked one and struck out eight.
The Mets still had a lead in the bottom of the sixth when Garrett opened the inning, but it didn’t last long. Nick Castellanos led off with a double, and Jeff McNeil misplayed Kemp’s fly ball in center field, resulting in another double, this one for the tie.
Brandon Marsh walked with one out, and Garrett struck out No. 9 hitter Weston Wilson for the second out. He was nearly out of trouble.
But then came Harrison Bader, the former Mets center fielder who has killed his old team all season as a member of the Minnesota Twins and the Phillies. He was 8-for-14 with a double, a home run, two RBI and four runs scored against the Mets in the series coming into the finale. He went 2-for-4 Thursday night with a double and an RBI single off Garrett (3-6), lining a 2-1 sinker to center field to score Kemp for the go-ahead run.
If the Mets had known that Bader was going to kill them the way he’s done over the last four games, they could have avoided that fate by trading for him instead of Cedric Mullins.
The damage wasn’t quite done. Garrett walked Kyle Schwarber to load the bases and bring up Bryce Harper, who hit a line drive down the right side to Alonso at first base. Alonso initially made the grab, but he slipped and the ball came out of his glove. Marsh scored, Harper was safe, and the Mets were done for.
Luzardo (14-6) didn’t give up another hit, but he did strike out nine more hitters to bring his total to 10 on the night over eight innings. Jhoan Duran closed out with the save (29), retiring Soto, Alonso and Vientos in order.
