Mets complete sweep of Phillies behind Canha and Scherzer

The Mets first inning woes continued in the series finale against the Phillies Thursday afternoon. With one out, a Trea Turner single to left was followed by a walk to Bryce Harper. When the two attempted a double steal, Francisco Alvarez’s throw to third sailed into left, bringing Turner around to score and moving Harper up to third. Nick Castellanos would follow with a sacrifice fly to deep center, putting the Mets in an early 2-0 hole.

The Mets would eventually battle back against old friend Taijuan Walker. New York would take advantage of some wildness from Walker in the third, as he would walk Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor back-to-back. Jeff McNeil would make him pay, delivering an RBI single to cut the Philadelphia lead in half. The following inning saw the red hot Mark Canha continue his scorching series—and general mastery of the Phillies—as he launched his second two-run home run in two days to deep left center, putting the Mets ahead 3-2.

The Baby Mets helped extend that lead in the bottom of the sixth when Brett Baty led off the inning with an opposite field double off of lefty reliever Matt Strahm. After a Starling Marte bunt moved Baty to third, Mark Vientos came through off the bench with a sacrifice fly to center to plate the crucial insurance run.

Scherzer settled down quickly after that first inning, going seven innings while striking out nine. With Adam Ottavino and David Robertson unavailable, Buck Showalter turned first to Jeff Brigham, who responded by hurling a perfect eighth inning. Brooks Raley came on for the second straight day, striking out Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber around a Castellanos single before yielding to Drew Smith, who threw one pitch in recording his second career save and securing a huge series sweep for the Mets against their division rivals from Philadelphia.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Mark Canha +25.7 WPA
Big Mets loser: Daniel Vogelbach, -8.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +27.4% WPA
Mets hitters: +22.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Canha two-run home run in bottom of the fourth, +27.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Trea Turner and Bryce Harper double steal in top of first (plus throwing error), -11.4% WPA