PHILADELPHIA — The Mets continue to say that a winning streak is in sight. They say they haven’t lost the belief that they can turn this season around, go on a run and get back into contention. They insist they will get better.
But the Mets have yet to get better.
Two missed popups, an error and a wild pitch cost the Mets a total of five runs Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. They went on to lose 5-1 in the first game of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park. As a result, Kodai Senga (6-5) took the loss, in what was otherwise a solid outing.
There have been several instances of bad defense over the last few weeks. Francisco Lindor made a costly error in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Brandon Nimmo failed to get to a pop-up against the Yankees in the Subway Series last week, and rookie left-hander Josh Walker received the loss because of it.
Walker, again, was the recipient of bad defense behind him against the Phillies (39-36). Trailing 2-0 with one out in the sixth inning, the Mets (34-41) went to the bullpen after Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm took back-to-back singles off Senga. Walker got Marsh to pop up to shallow left field. Lindor called for it, but dropped to his knee at the last second, letting it go for Tommy Pham, who assumed it wasn’t his ball.
It fell next to the two and scored Stott to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead. Then, the Mets found themselves in a sudden downpour. Walker struggled to grip the baseball. He got Edmundo Sosa to line out to Pham, but nearly hit leadoff man Kyle Schwarber in the head and needed a towel before continuing the at-bat.
Schwarber walked to load the bases and the Mets brought in right-hander Jeff Brigham to face Trea Turner, who sliced a single through the left side of the infield to score Bohm and Marsh and give Philadelphia a 5-1 lead.
Nimmo dropped the first ball hit to him in the top of the first. It was a shallow flare by Schwarber and was ruled an error. Senga then threw one wild to advance Schwarber and walked Turner to bring up Bryce Harper.
The two-time NL MVP popped up to shallow left field and neither Pham nor third baseman Brett Baty seemed to know where it was going. It scored two to put the Mets in an early hole. The first-inning woes continue to persist with the Mets having been outscored 56-21 in the opening frames this season.
Only two of the four runs allowed by Senga were earned. He allowed five hits, struck out six and walked three over 5 1/3 innings. Walker was charged with one earned run.
Nimmo provided the only run for the visitors with a solo homer off former Mets right-hander Taijuan Walker (8-3) in the third, his eighth of the season.
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