The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies have spent the first half of the season mixing euphoric highs with frustrating lows, which means the first two games of their second series against one another in 2025 unfolded in appropriate fashion.
The National League East co-leaders each will look to take over sole possession of first place Sunday night when the Phillies host the Mets in the finale of a three-game series.
David Peterson (5-2, 2.60 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow left-hander Jesus Luzardo (6-3, 4.41).
The Mets tied a major league record by hitting seven solo homers Saturday night in an 11-4 win. They ended a seven-game losing streak and moved back into a tie with the Phillies atop the NL East.
Both teams are 46-31. The Phillies won Friday’s opener 10-2 to briefly take over the division lead outright.
The seven homers by the Mets were one more than they hit during the losing streak and one shy of the single-game team record, set in Philadelphia on Aug. 24, 2015.
Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto had two homers apiece Saturday while Francisco Lindor, Jared Young and Francisco Alvarez went deep once apiece. Lindor, Nimmo and Soto went back-to-back-to-back in the third to put the Mets ahead for good at 4-3.
Lindor just missed a second homer in the sixth, when he hit a two-run double off the right field wall. Soto set season highs with four hits and four RBIs for the Mets, whose seven-game skid was preceded by a stretch in which they won 15 of 18 games.
“It’s baseball,” Lindor said. “You stay the course. You’re not as bad as you think you are. You’re not as good as you think you are.”
The Phillies certainly don’t need to be reminded of that baseball truism. The loss Saturday was just their third in the past 12 games — a stretch that was preceded by a span in which Philadelphia went 1-9.
“Trust me, there’s ups and downs to the season,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said following Friday’s win.
There were plenty of downs Saturday for Philadelphia, which didn’t hit a homer after going deep at least once in each of the previous 10 games.
The Phillies will try to take down Peterson on Sunday. He didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start on Tuesday, when he gave up three runs and five hits over seven innings as the Mets fell to the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in 10 innings.
Peterson is 1-3 with a 4.82 ERA in 11 regular-season games (10 starts) against the Phillies. He was 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA over 5 1/3 innings in a pair of relief appearances in last year’s NL Division Series between the Mets and Phillies (New York won in four games).
Luzardo, meanwhile, took the loss Tuesday after allowing four runs and six hits over five innings as the Phillies fell to the Miami Marlins 8-3. He is 4-2 with a 3.02 ERA in eight career starts against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
