That’s more like it: Phillies 4, Mets 1

It would be completely on brand for the Phillies to show absolutely nothing on offense while their two best starting pitchers were on the mound, then come back with a little more pep when the 27th man on the roster was starting.

That’s what the Phillies do.

So when Bailey Falter came out, expected to throw somewhere between six and seven innings according to Rob Thomson, you just knew the team had this win in the bag.

Of course, things wouldn’t be Falter if he didn’t make the first inning incredibly exciting. He hit Starling Marte with a pitch with one out, but had him erased when J.T. Realmuto threw him out trying to steal for the second out of the inning. Easy, right? Not so fast. Francisco Lindor singled, then was followed by walks to Pete Alonso and Darin Ruf, meaning the bases were loaded with two outs, prompting a calming trip to the mound by Caleb Cotham. Things would be ok, right?

<insert expected wild pitch here>

Yeah, that’s totally Phillies.

Falter would escape without further damage and even went to the mound in the second inning with the Phillies having tied things up thanks to a Kyle Schwarber leadoff double, followed by a two-out, RBI single from Realmuto. From there, Falter settled into having a very nice game. He wouldn’t allow another baserunner until the fifth and ended his night having gone six strong innings, sorely needed innings for a Phillies team that needed this win.

The offense was able to scratch by a few more runs in the third inning when Nick Maton singled to start it, then went to second on a walk to Schwarber. After Rhys Hoskins struck out, Alec Bohm stepped up a laced a double to left, scoring both runners and making the score 3-1.

They threatened again the sixth inning, loading the bases on a few errors by the Mets and a walk, but couldn’t have one measly pop up fall for them thanks to an outstanding play by Jeff McNeil that ended the inning with nothing further pushed across.

Their fourth and final run of the game came in the eighth when Schwarber’s calf looked pretty good on a triple in the alley gave them a runner in scoring position with one out, then a run across the plate when a Hoskins single scored pinch runner Garrett Stubbs and the lead was at three.

David Robertson, who entered in the eighth, closed it out in the ninth, not without a double and a walk to make things interesting, but the win was secured and the Mets hex was broken, if only for a day.