Jean day: Phillies 9, Mets 8

It felt like we had seen this one before. The Phillies got off to an early lead, but then the offense quieted down against the opposing bullpen. And then, the Phillies’ relievers - aided by a defensive miscue or two - allowed the opponents to make a comeback. But this time, the Phillies were able to stage a late comeback of their own, and thanks to Jean Segura’s tenth inning home run, they emerged with a 9-8 win over the Mets.

Segura’s big day began in the first inning when his base-clearing double got the Phillies out to a 3-0 lead.

Home runs by Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto extended the lead to 6-0, and with Zack Wheeler cruising, it felt like the Phillies wouldn’t have to work very hard to earn a victory on Labor Day.

This being the Phillies, we should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. In the fifth inning, aided by a particularly poor play by Phillies right fielder Kyle Garlick, the Mets scored three two-out runs to cut the Phillies lead in half.

Despite Wheeler having only thrown 83 pitches, manager Joe Girardi chose to have JoJo Romero begin the seventh inning. That move backfired when the first two runners reached base on singles. One of those runners would score thanks to a throwing error by Didi Gregorius, which prompted Girardi to call David Phelps into the game. Two batters later, the Phillies were no longer in the lead.

Many Phillies fans had written the game off at this point, but Alec Bohm is apparently too young to know better. His RBI single tied the game, and the damage could have been worse had Andrew Knapp not inexplicably run himself into an out on the play.

In the tenth inning, after the Phillies had already had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at the plate, Jean Segura decided that much like Mariano Duncan owns Mothers’ Day in the hearts of Phillies fans, he should have ownership of Labor Day.

Hector Neris made use of the two-run cushion in the bottom of the inning, and the Phillies escaped with a not-entirely-deserved 9-8 win.

Maybe its a good sign that the Phillies could make as many mistakes as they did and come away with a win. Maybe I should be encouraged by the fact that the Phillies looked awful for the majority of this series and still managed a split. Or maybe I recognize that if the Phillies continue to play bad defense, make baserunning mistakes, and have a dumpster fire of a bullpen, wins are going to be a lot harder to come by in the days ahead.