LONDON — Look kids, there’s Big Ben, Parliament, a missed defensive play by the Mets.
It’s been a theme this season — the Mets were second-to-last in the major leagues defensively by one measure as play began — and Saturday they took it to a new continent: Starling Marte stopped short on a fly ball to right field that should have been caught to retire the Phillies in the fourth inning.
Instead, the ball fell, along with the Mets in a 7-2 loss in front of 53,882 at London Stadium.
Marte’s non-catch allowed the Phillies to pile on five runs against Sean Manaea in an inning in which Bryce Harper’s solo homer might have otherwise been the only damage.
The Mets never recovered and had a three-game winning streak snapped.
The Mets will receive another opportunity in the London Series on Sunday before heading back to New York.
Entering the day, the Mets were 29th in MLB in Defensive Runs Saved at minus-30.
Marte was a key contributor to that statistic at minus-9 in right field.
Manaea allowed only one base runner over the first three innings, but it all crumbled for him in the fourth, when he faced nine batters and surrendered six runs, with Marte’s non-play a key factor.
Manaea’s outing of 3 2/3 innings matched his shortest of the season.
Marte stroked an RBI double in the first against Ranger Suarez that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Francisco Lindor smacked a leadoff double and J.D. Martinez was hit by a pitch with two outs before Marte delivered to continue his sizzling bat against the Phillies.
Entering play he owned a .370 lifetime batting average in 79 career games against the Phillies – the highest mark by an active player against an individual team with a minimum of 200 at-bats.
But Marte’s day was about to get worse: With two outs in the fourth and only one run across, Marte stopped on Edmundo Sosa’s fly to right field.
The ball fell for an RBI single and the ensuing batter, Whit Merrifield, blasted a three-run homer that sank the Mets in a 5-1 hole.
The Phillies started a new rally in the inning with Cristian Pache’s double and Kyle Schwarber’s RBI single that gave the Phillies a 6-1 lead.
Manaea exited and Sean Reid-Foley recorded the final out.
Lindor singled leading off the fifth and after Pete Alonso doubled, raced home on Martinez’s ground out, pulling the Mets within 6-2.
Suarez was removed with two outs in the sixth following consecutive singles by Jose Iglesias and Luis Torrens, who have provided surprising contributions at the bottom of the lineup over the last week.
Orion Kerkering entered to strike out Lindor, ending the threat.
Nick Castellanos homered against Danny Young in the eighth to extend the Phillies’ lead to 7-2.