PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Max Scherzer struck out eight over six innings and Starling Marte homered to help the New York Mets snap a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
Both teams have whirled in different directions since the Mets finished a three-game home sweep of the Phillies on June 1. The Phillies got their June groove back and were on a 14-5 tear that thrust them into the wild-card race since that series ended. The Mets were 4-14 over that span and stumbled to seven games under .500.
So the question was naturally raised to Mets manager Buck Showalter, just how much does he hear from team owner Steve Cohen about the team’s losing stretch?
“Steve’s always been very supportive,” Showalter said before the game. “He communicates when he needs to.”
Cohen had to have enjoyed this one.
David Robertson, a former Phillies reliever who received his 2022 NL championship ring before the game, got Bryson Stott to ground into an inning-ending double play in the eighth. He tossed a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.
Scherzer (7-2) was solid against a lineup that included former Nationals teammates Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. Turner touched him for an RBI single in the fifth that tied it at 2.
Scherzer hasn’t lost a start since May 8 and remained the one Mets pitcher guaranteed to give them a chance to win in every start.
Robertson, Marte -- and, a bit of a pro-Mets crowd -- helped Scherzer get the win in this one.
“Let’s Go Mets!” chants among the sellout crowd of 43,586 started from the first pitch and only grew louder when Marte hit a solo homer to left in the first inning.
Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single off Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez (0-1) made it 2-0 in the second. The Mets went ahead for good on Pete Alonso’s RBI forceout and Tommy Pham’s RBI single in the sixth that made it 4-2.
Nick Castellanos went 3 for 3 with a walk and homered for the Phillies.
ALL-STAR PAIN
Rob Thomson gets to manage the NL All-Star team on July 11 in Seattle as a reward for the Phillies winning the pennant last season.
Looking forward to it, Rob?
“Not really,” Thomson cracked.
Nothing against the gig, Thomson insisted. But the second-year manager said he has been too focused on trying to get the Phillies right rather than thinking about a potential All-Star roster.
Plus, Thomson and his staff -- he said Saturday he’s taking his entire coaching staff -- have to fly from Miami where the Phillies wrap a three-game series on July 9 straight to Seattle.
“It’ll be fun,” Thomson said. “I’ve been there before. It’s a good time.”
MLB hasn’t allowed managers to pick the rosters since 2017.
Thomson said the “guys that have performed the best, played the best, they should go.”
MURDERS’ ROW?
Philadelphia’s high-priced sluggers led by Harper have been in a home run drought this season. The Phillies entered with just 78 homers, 21st overall in all of baseball.
“Those numbers, I think, will change because we have power and we’ll score runs,” Thomson said. “The ’27 Yankees, there were times they didn’t score runs.”
Actually, try “time.”
The Yankees were shut out just once in 1927. Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a 1-0 win over the Yankees on Sept. 23, 1927 at Shibe Park.
The Phillies have been shut out six times this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: 2B Jeff McNeil did not play with a sore left wrist he hurt a night earlier. ... 3B Danny Mendick played his first game since last June 22 when he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee.
UP NEXT
The Phillies send RHP Zack Wheeler (6-4, 3.48 ERA) to the mound against Mets RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-3., 6.34 ERA).
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