After splitting the first two games, the Mets and Phillies meet on Sunday afternoon for a rubber match. The Mets have young phenom Nolan McLean on the mound and are hoping to win their first series in Philadelphia since 2022.
First Inning: After two hard hit balls off the bats of Ewing and Soto, Bo Bichette works a walk on an 11 pitch at-bat, fouling off five consecutive pitches before eventually reaching base.
What a timely home run for Lindor, who has struggled mightily since being reinstated from the injured list at the end of June. A towering blast to the second deck in right field gets the Mets off to a blistering start.
In the bottom half of the inning, McLean seems to have his best stuff going this afternoon, striking out two of the Phillies best three hitters to cap off a perfect inning.
Second Inning
Five of the first six Met hitters reach base as Lindor drives in another run. Carson Benge drove in the Mets third run of the inning with a well-struck sacrifice fly to right.
Critics of Benge have been less than complimentary of his situational hitting, but the rookie comes through with the bases loaded to get another run across.
Nolan McLean worked around a walk and a single in the bottom half of the inning to put up another scoreless frame.
Third Inning
It’s three up and three down for both teams in the third with McLean notching strikeouts against fellow rookies Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Justin Crawford.
Fourth Inning
Bo Bichette singles and Francisco Lindor reaches base for the third time today, but the Mets are shutout in the fourth.
McLean looks great against the Phillies top half of the order once again, going 1-2-3 with a strikeout of Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber has been a massive thorn in the Mets side this year as shown below.
Fifth Inning
The Mets are unable to cash in on Tyrone Taylor’s leadoff double as he is caught stealing third and the next two batters are retired.
Despite being in a diminished role, Taylor has outperformed his career numbers this season, and could be a potential trade target for another team that could have an opening in the outfield that the Mets do not currently have.
Nolan McLean, take a bow. The Mets young ace has been absolutely marvelous today, recording another 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts.
Sixth Inning
Three straight hits from Torrens, Ewing, and Soto to lead off the inning bring in another run for New York, as their lead balloons to a seeming unsurmountable 6-0. The Mets $765 million man swings at the first pitch he sees and laces a ball into straightaway center to drive in Torrens.
McLean seems to be getting even better as the game goes on! He strikes out three more in the sixth as Rincones Jr., Crawford, and Harper all go back to the dugout without being able to make contact. The young phenom is just one away from matching his career high in strikeouts, but his pitch count is pretty high at 92. Let’s see if he is able to pitch into the seventh.
Seventh Inning
Torrens and Ewing continue their fabulous days, each reaching for the third time via a walk and a single, respectively, but the top of the order is unable to bring them home.
After six scoreless innings, McLean’s day is done as the Mets go to A.J. Minter out of the bullpen. Minter surrenders a solo home run to the struggling Alec Bohm, but the Mets take a 6-1 lead into the eighth.
For just the third time in his career, McLean registers double digits in the strikeout department. Notably, this start was the first he has had that also came with no runs allowed.
Eighth Inning
Francisco Lindor continues his fantastic day at the plate with a leadoff double, but Marcus Semien and Brett Baty are both retired with the bases loaded and the Mets put up a zero for the inning.
Huascar Brazoban works around a walk and strikes out the two best Philly hitters in Harper and Schwarber to take the game to the ninth still at 6-1 New York.
Ninth Inning
Juan Soto adds another base hit to his ledger, but the Mets go quietly once again in the top half of the (hopefully) final frame.
Cionel Perez does great in cleanup duty despite allowing a leadoff single and the Mets cap off a relatively easy win here on this Sunday afternoon in the City of Brotherly Love.
The story of the game is undoubtedly Nolan McLean, as he has returned to the ace form the Mets saw at the end of last year and into the start of 2026.
While this year seems to be a lost one for the Metropolitans, it is important for the pillars of this franchise to show what they are capable of, and it certainly appears that Nolan McLean is one of those building blocks.
Beating the Phillies is always fun, no matter what the season outlook is, so enjoy yourselves if only just for today Mets fans.
Jack Bennett's Mets Blog 
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