JT Realmuto lined a walk-off single to right-center field off closer Edwin Diaz, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Allowing a one-out single to Nick Castellanos, Diaz struck Alec Bohm out swinging but allowed the slow-footed outfielder to swipe second base and get into scoring position. Up 0-2 on the Phillies’ catcher, Diaz’s fastball up and on the outer portion of the zone was poked the other way for a second-straight demoralizing loss in which the Mets squandered a lead late.
Tyrone Taylor’s solo home run gave the Mets a 1-0 lead before starting pitcher David Peterson’s gem was scuffed by two consecutive doubles by Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy to tie the game at one apiece heading into the ninth inning.
Peterson went a season-high 7.2 innings, yielding one run on four hits with six strikeouts and a walk.
Following Philadelphia’s pair of doubles to tie the game, Johan Rojas moved Kennedy to third with one out, but Peterson got Kyle Schwarber to ground out to second while keeping the potential go-ahead run 90 feet away. Reliever Phil Maton got Trea Turner to fly out to right to end the eighth.
Spending the majority of his afternoon trading zeroes with Sanchez, Peterson was staked to a slim advantage when Taylor led off the bottom of the eighth with his seventh home run of the season, which went 406 feet out to center field on a 2-2 slider.
It was just the ninth home run allowed by Sanchez in 172 innings pitched this season. The Phillies starter gave up six hits and a walk while striking out seven in his seven-plus frames.
The loss, though, means the Mets (81-68) made no progress in the standings as they entered Sunday tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League. Sunday was the second straight game in which the Mets’ bullpen faltered when called upon, squandering a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning the day before.
