After finishing with the second-worst blown save total in baseball in 2021, Philadelphia had a bullpen meltdown for the ages Thursday. The Phillies brought former Dodgers reliever Corey Knebel on board to alleviate last year’s 34 blown saves, but even Knebel – who has been generally good on the mound this year – couldn’t stop the bleeding in Thursday’s devastating 8-7 loss that saw a seven-run ninth inning for the Mets.
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, let’s acknowledge one thing: The Phillies’ bullpen has not been good. Knebel has four saves on the season and his ERA is solid, although last night’s debacle saw it jump to 3.27 from 0.87, but the Philadelphia bullpen as a group is 25th in the league in cumulative ERA at 4.50 and 25th in WHIP at 1.35.
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With that in mind, here’s how the seven-run ninth went down for the Phillies and Mets:
Batter No. 1: Starling Marte – 7-1 Phillies, nobody on, nobody out
With James Norwood on the mound for the Phillies, Starling Marte leads off the inning for the Mets. Norwood dances around Marte and gets into a 2-0 count, before battling back to get to 2-2. In this advantageous count, however, his put-out splitter gets a bit too much of the plate, and Marte golfs it out to Johan Camargo. Camargo makes a good throw to first on a charge of the looper, but Marte beats it out for an infield single.
Batter No. 2: Francisco Lindor – 7-1 Phillies, Marte on first, nobody out
Lindor quickly cashes in on Marte’s single, taking a fastball in his wheelhouse to right center for his fifth home run of the season. Norwood simply made a pitch you can’t make, and Lindor made him pay.
Batter No. 3: Pete Alonso – 7-3 Phillies, nobody on, nobody out
While a home run can sometimes spell the abrupt end of a rally, Alonso doesn’t keep the bases empty for long. After Norwood gets Alonso 0-1 with a nice splitter, he once again – bafflingly – puts a fastball over the plate. Alonso drives the pitch over the glove of Alec Bohm at third and gets on with a double down the line.
Batter No. 4: Eduardo Escobar – 7-3 Phillies, Alonso on second, nobody out
Continuing to be aggressive early in the count, Escobar lines out on a splitter to second base. It’s a looper, but it gets the Phillies their first out of the inning while holding Alonso on second.
Batter No. 5: Jeff McNeil – 7-3 Phillies, Alonso on second, one out
McNeil gets things started for the Mets again. After attempting to bunt against the shift, he rips a splitter down and inside for another single to advance Alonso and rekindle the rally. Norwood is pulled in favor of Knebel after the second exit velocity of 100-plus mph of the inning.
Batter No. 6: Mark Canha – 7-3 Phillies, Alonso on third, McNeil on first, one out
After taking a knuckle curve from Knebel to go down 0-1, Canha – much like the rest of the Mets order – jumps on the first fastball he sees. He makes good contact up the middle and it hits off Knebel, driving in Alonso and putting runners on first and second. A bit of luck, but luck seems to happen more often on good contact.
Batter No. 7: Dominic Smith – 7-4 Phillies, McNeil on second, Canha on first, one out
By far the most conservative approach at the plate, Smith takes the first five pitches of the at-bat to get to a full count. The first three pitches are dotting fastballs, followed by a curveball that just misses and a fastball that could have been called a strike. Smith goes down swinging on a nice curveball from Knebel, getting the Mets down to their last out.
Batter No. 8: J.D. Davis – 7-4 Phillies, McNeil on second, Canha on first, two outs
Knebel immediately falls behind Davis 2-0 after missing high with a fastball and high again with a curveball. On the 2-0 fastball, Knebel gets the most plate he’s gotten in eight pitches and Davis makes him pay with a double. Similarly to Alonso’s double, it was a pitch he got a chance to drive over the glove of Bohm. This was the second-hardest-hit ball of the inning, a scorching 107.9 mph.
One run scores for the Mets, putting the go-ahead run at the plate.
Batter No. 9: Brandon Nimmo – 7-5 Phillies, Canha on third, Travis Jankowski (PR) on second, two outs
Crazily enough, this was the only Knebel breaking ball the Mets put in play all inning. On a 1-1 knuckle curve, Nimmo was sitting on the pitch. He loops a single into center field to score Canha and Jankowski, tying the game for the Mets at seven apiece.
Batter No. 10: Starling Marte – 7-7, Nimmo on first, two outs
Finally, this entire thing comes full circle. Marte steps back up and, fittingly, jumps on a first-pitch fastball. He takes it to dead center for a two-out double to score Nimmo and give the Mets the lead, capping off a miracle comeback.
Batter No. 11: Francisco Lindor – 8-7 Mets, Marte on second, two outs
Mercifully for Philly fans, Lindor grounds out to end the inning, but not before the damage is down.
To add insult to injury for the Phillies, Edwin Diaz strikes out two of the three batters he faces en route to a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. Diaz now has six saves on the season, a 1.50 ERA, and a WHIP of 0.83.
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How the Phillies didn’t adjust to the Mets’ approach was nothing short of baffling. Smith was the only player in the inning to show a modicum of patience, but both Norwood and Knebel continued to put fastballs over the heart of the plate.
“That was about as hard as I’ve been through,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said after the game, per NBC Sports. “Probably one of the toughest since I’ve been here. We played a really good eight innings and in the top of the ninth, they beat us.”
Knebel pointed to the ground ball from Canha that hit him as the turning point.
“If the ball doesn’t hit me, we win,” he said. “S— happens. That’s how the game works sometimes. This is definitely a tough one.”
The Phillies must now lick their wounds and play the Mets again Friday night, while the Mets – 19-9 on the season – celebrate the biggest team comeback in 25 years. They’re now atop the NL East with the only record above .500, showing no signs of slowing down in one of the most anticipated seasons in the team’s recent memory.
