The Phillies and Mets stayed tied, 1-1, from the second inning until the 10th inning, but it was a sac fly that won it for the Phillies, 2-1, in the end. With rookie shortstop Bryson Stott, the automatic runner, at third, Alec Bohm hit a fly ball to right fielder Starling Marte. Marte caught it, and Stott started chugging home, only to realize that Marte had overthrown the ball. He was safe, the Phillies got a 2-1 lead, and the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the 10th off of David Robertson. Ballgame over.
Earlier in the day, interim manager Rob Thomson shrugged off the idea that this series against the Mets was a litmus test, but the Phillies have been playing with a different energy over the past few weeks, and that energy shined through Friday night. Citi Field was packed with rambunctious fans, and the Phillies were facing off against a three-time Cy Young Award winner in Max Scherzer, but they played with the urgency of a playoff team.
No play embodied that urgency more than Matt Vierling’s throw in the bottom of the ninth, with runners on first and third and one out. With the game on the line, Vierling caught a Daniel Vogelbach fly ball and gunned it home in time to tag Marte out at the plate.
