Three consecutive dramatic wins have vaulted the Philadelphia Phillies into the history books and have provided another sign of how far they’ve come since a disastrous start.
For the New York Mets, a six-game losing streak has served as a reminder that they continue to dig a deeper hole.
The Phillies will look to remain hot and continue the Mets’ misery on Friday night when the teams open a three-game series in New York.
Right-hander Zack Wheeler (7-1, 2.11 ERA) is slated to start for the Phillies against rookie left-hander Zach Thornton (0-1, 8.31), whom the Mets will promote from Triple-A Syracuse before the game.
The teams continued going in opposite directions on Thursday night.
Bryce Harper hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer in the ninth as the Phillies scored 10 unanswered runs starting in the sixth inning of a 10-5 victory over the Washington Nationals.
The Mets, meanwhile, suffered the final loss in a four-game series sweep by the visiting Chicago Cubs, who edged New York 4-3 in 10 innings on Thursday.
Harper’s blast marked the third straight game in which the Phillies took the lead with a ninth-inning homer. Bryson Stott’s tie-breaking, three-run shot Tuesday highlighted an eight-run outburst in a 14-9 win over the Nationals before Derek Hill hit a go-ahead, two-run homer with two outs in a 5-4 victory Wednesday.
Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Phillies are the first team in major league history to belt a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning of three straight games.
The series win over the Nationals pulled the Phillies within four games of the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves. Philadelphia, which leads the NL wild-card race, opened the season 9-19 but has gone 36-17 since Don Mattingly was named interim manager on April 28.
“This little stretch of games has been a little crazy,” Mattingly said. “You get down in the ninth and you’re like, ‘Well, how many times can it happen?'”
The Mets are asking a similar question for all of the wrong reasons.
New York has been outscored 54-22 during its six-game losing streak, which began with a 15-3 loss to the Phillies on Saturday night.
The skid has been marred by shoddy defense by the Mets, who have been charged with 11 errors over the six games. That includes six in a 10-5 loss to the Cubs in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday and two more Thursday, when all of Chicago’s runs were unearned.
The current losing streak is the second-longest of the season for the Mets, who lost 12 in a row from April 8-21.
“Losing is no fun,” said Freddy Peralta, who gave up three unearned runs over 5 2/3 innings Thursday. “At the end of the day, I know that we need to win and that we have a team that is supposed to win.”
Wheeler will oppose his former team for the second straight start. He earned the win Sunday after giving up two runs over 5 2/3 innings as the Phillies cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Mets.
Thornton is filling the rotation spot vacated when left-hander David Peterson was dealt to the Cubs on Thursday.
Thornton hasn’t pitched for the Mets since May 20, when he made his big league debut against the Nationals and took the defeat after allowing four runs over 4 1/3 innings in New York’s 8-4 loss. He went 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in his last five games (four starts) at Syracuse.
Wheeler is 6-5 with a 3.36 ERA in 18 career appearances (all starts) against the Mets, with whom he played from 2013 through 2019.
–Field Level Media
