QUEENS, NY — Ryan Helsley made it more difficult than it had to be, but Brandon Nimmo ensured the Mets kept their momentum and went home winners on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
The veteran left fielder’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning walked New York off to a 6-5 victory over the Phillies for its second straight win over their division rivals, which moves the Mets (71-61) to within five games of Philadelphia and its National League East lead.
“Brandon right there, just not trying to do too much,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He stayed short to the ball, but overall, our ability to respond and punch back once you get punched once or twice, I love what I see from the guys.”
Against reliever Jhoan Duran, Starling Marte and Pete Alonso led off the ninth with singles. Brett Baty, who replaced the red-hot Mark Vientos for defense at third base in the eighth, donked a single to left to load the bases and set the table for Nimmo, who slapped a liner the other way to left field to score the winning run in Marte.
“Just great at-bats by Starling and Pete and Baty,” Nimmo said. “I think Starling and Pete jumped on some fastballs, really found the barrel. Good things happen when you find the barrel. And then Brett did an unbelievable job taking an at-bat well past his years, coming up in a huge situation as a substitute into the game, and not trying to do too much… It made my job a whole lot easier there, a lot of things get the job done there…
“We won the game because of their at-bats.”
The Mets’ bullpen squandered a 5-2 lead, which was built on the back of a five-run fifth inning. Helsley’s struggles as the new setup man continued, as he allowed a game-tying, two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to former Met Harrison Bader.
After walking pinch-hitter Bryson Stott, he was pulled with one out in the eighth to put extra strain on closer Edwin Diaz, who cleaned up Helsley’s mess with two strikeouts to get out of the eighth.
The Mets’ closer proceeded to breeze through the heart of the Phillies’ order in the ninth, including strikeouts of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
“He was pretty nasty again today,” Mendoza said. “Going through their best hitters… he made it look easy and gave our offense a chance to win the baseball game.”
Helsley has now allowed 14 runs (10 earned) in 10 appearances since the Mets picked him up from the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline, which comes out to an abysmal 10.38 ERA.
“People have to step up. People have to do their job,” Mendoza said. “We have to get [Helsley] right.”
Falling behind 2-0 in the top of the fifth, the Mets punched right back in the bottom of the frame to put up yet another crooked number on Philadelphia following a 13-run outburst on Monday night.
“We just continued to punch back,” Mendoza said. “By the fifth inning, we get down 2-0, we’re able to answer right back and put together some really good at-bats, and we take the lead.”
Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo faced four Mets to lead off the frame, but did not retire any, hitting Luis Torrens and allowing a single to Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto followed up with an RBI single to halve the host’s deficit.
After walking Marte to load the bases, in which he was squeezed a few times by home-plate umpire Willie Traynor, his night was done. The Philadelphia southpaw barked at Traynor while walking to the dugout, warranting an immediate ejection.
Against reliever Orion Kerkering, Alonso drove in a pair to give the Mets the lead with a double in the left-center-field gap. Vientos singled, and Nimmo hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in two more and cap off the five-run inning. Four of those runs were charged to Luzardo, who allowed five hits with three walks and five strikeouts in his four-plus innings.
Mets starter Sean Manaea fared better than his previous four starts, in which he allowed 17 earned runs in 19.1 innings pitched (7.91 ERA), but he still could not complete five innings and exited on the short end of the result.
“Some positive things to take away from this game,” Manaea said. “I just have to focus on that. Filling up the strike zone. I felt all three of my pitches were working.”
A Trea Turner single with two outs in the fifth put two men on for Philadelphia, prompting manager Carlos Mendoza to give the veteran southpaw the hook at 90 pitches. Reliever Gregory Soto then walked Schwarber and gave up a two-run single to Harper to put the Mets down a pair. Both runs were charged to Manaea, who finished his day allowing six hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He has not completed five innings in three of his last four starts.
“I feel like I’m getting in good counts and not putting guys away,” Manaea said. “I don’t know if it’s just a mixing issue, just not getting the fastball to the top of the zone. A lot of foul balls and guys are just working the counts. I’m getting some good results, but I’m just taking a very long time to put guys away.”
The Phillies pulled one back in the sixth to cut their deficit to two on Edmundo Sosa’s RBI infield single off Huascar Brazoban. Tyler Rogers needed just seven pitches to get through the seventh inning, but Mendoza opted to turn to the struggling Helsley, who worked through a scoreless eighth inning the night prior.
After getting Alec Bohm swinging, he walked Nick Castellanos before serving a meatball to Bader, which he pulled 381 feet into the left-field seats to tie the game.
“We have to look back and see what we’re missing,” Mendoza said of Helsley. “For teams to have comfortable at-bats like that, something is going on here and we have to figure it out.”
