NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Sometimes the short, soft hits make the big difference.
His playing time limited this season, Starling Marte stepped to the plate with the chance to give the New York Mets a , a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, an unbeaten homestand and a five-game NL East lead over their rival.
His bat shattered against Jordan Romano’s curveball.
鈥淟ike in 1,000 pieces,鈥 Marte would later say through a translator.
. Cal Stevenson charged but could only get to it after three bounces.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the randomness of the game,鈥 Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Pete Alonso, who was on second base, slid across home plate headfirst ahead of the throw.
鈥淭hat’s why you run like hell and slide just in case,鈥 Alonso said.
After wasting an early two-run lead, the Mets extended their winning streak to seven and finished the second-longest unbeaten homestand in team history at 7-0. The Mets have the best record in the major leagues at 18-7 and are 12-1 at home for the first time.
鈥淭his is a really tight-knit group because there鈥檚 so many guys here from the year before where its like we have experience together, we have continuity,” Alonso said. “And then the guys that were added, just kind of 鈥 not just talent-wise, but personality- wise, they just kind of gelled right in. It鈥檚 like we鈥檝e been playing together for years.鈥
Philadelphia (13-12) has lost four straight. Last October, the .
鈥淲e have to be better,鈥 Phillies star Bryce Harper said. 鈥淎s a team we鈥檝e got to really understand what we want to do, how we want to do it.鈥
There was a miniseries of drama, with a play at the plate, a balk that wasn’t, a 10th-inning, bases-loaded jam escape and an All-Star closer revealing one of his legs inexplicably was longer than the other.
Brett Baty, faced with possible demotion to the minors if Jeff McNeil is activated from the injured list Friday, put the Mets ahead in the second inning with his first home run since last May 25, a two-run drive off Zack Wheeler in the right field second deck.
Johan Rojas and Trea Turner tied the score in the fourth with RBI singles against David Peterson.
Juan Soto prevented the go-ahead run from scoring in the eighth inning. Nick Castellanos tried to score from second on Max Kepler鈥檚 two-out single that went off the glove of diving second baseman Luisangel Acu帽a and into right. was slightly to the first-base side. Senger snagged the ball, lunged across the plate and tagged Castellanos, who slid feet first.
Senger had no idea where the runner was, then looked at his mitt after the tag to make sure the ball was there.
鈥淗e could have been halfway down the line, and I鈥檇 look like an idiot diving towards the plate,鈥 Senger said.
Thomson called for a video review, but plate umpire Mark Wenger concluded the manager signaled past the 15-second limit.
Castellanos put the Phillies ahead 3-2 with a one-out RBI single in the 10th off All-Star closer Edwin D铆az, who left with a left hip cramp after his first pitch to J.T. Realmuto. Umpires at first signaled a balk for a third disengagement from the pitching rubber, then called off the penalty after deciding D铆az stepped off because he was hurt.
鈥淢y hip got locked up. So I started walking, tried to maybe loosen it up,鈥 D铆az said.
Mets athletic training staff had worked on D铆az on Tuesday when the pitcher complained his right leg suddenly was longer than his left.
鈥漈hat’s normal?” D铆az remembered asking the trainer. 鈥淗e said, `No,’ so he fixed my hips right away.鈥
Thomson came onto the field trying to get the balk restored.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a play that I鈥檒l have to remember to tell our pitchers: Step off third time,” he said. 鈥淐all the trainer. He鈥檒l take you out. We鈥檒l put somebody else in.鈥
Max Kranick (2-0), who had thrown 36 pitches in Monday’s series-opening 5-4 win, was summoned to take over with a 1-0 count, walked Realmuto with three straight balls and gave up Alec Bohm’s single that loaded the bases. Then he retired Bryson Stott and Kepler on short flyouts.
鈥淭oday was definitely a little bit different,鈥 Kranick said.
Alonso retied the game with a one-out RBI double in the bottom half off Jordan Romano (0-1), his NL-best 26th RBI, Brandon Nimmo was intentionally walked, Mark Vientos struck out and Marte singled.
鈥淥bviously with the circumstances that I鈥檓 currently in,鈥 the 36-year-old, two-time All-Star said, “it feels really good to see the team smile and to come together in a win like that.鈥
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