The New York Mets rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies for a 6-2 victory in Game 1 of the NLDS.
The Mets scored five runs in the eighth inning off three different relievers after Phillies ace Zack Wheeler tossed seven scoreless innings and allowed just one hit with nine strikeouts.
"As an offense, we wasted that start," Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper told reporters. "It's the same thing, man. Chasing balls in the dirt, didn't work deep into counts like we should have. We've got to understand what they're gonna try to do to us and flip the switch as an offense immediately."
New York batted around in the eighth inning, getting to Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm for five runs on four hits and a walk.
Make it FOUR runs in the 8th inning for the @Mets! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/lHdfwwosUW
— MLB (@MLB) October 5, 2024
"Yeah, it was stunning, it was, to see Hoffy and Strahmy give it up like that," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said postgame, per ASAP Transcripts. "But that's baseball sometimes. They haven't done that since we've had them, really."
The Mets are showing a flare for the dramatic in the postseason, rallying for comeback victories in each of their three wins so far.
Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber led off the bottom of the first inning with a mammoth home run to the upper deck against Mets right-hander Kodai Senga.
Senga made the start after missing more than two months with a calf injury. The 31-year-old allowed one run with three strikeouts over two innings of work.
Wheeler racked up 30 swinging strikes across his 111 pitches. The 30 whiffs are the most by a Phillies pitcher in a postseason game since pitch-tracking data came into effect in 2008, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs.
