Phillies pound Mets, face Marlins in wild-card round
October 2 – Nick Nelson tossed 5 1/3 solid innings of bulk relief on Sunday afternoon for the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, who prepared for the postseason by beating the New York Mets 9-1.
Alec Bohm hit a go-ahead homer for the defending National League champion Phillies (90-72), who will host the Miami Marlins in a best-of-three National League wild-card series beginning Tuesday.
Tim Locastro homered for the Mets (74-87), who announced the firing of manager Buck Showalter before the game. With David Stearns likely to join the team as president of baseball operations on Monday, owner Steve Cohen issued a statement in which he said he “let Buck know we’ll be parting ways” shortly after Showalter said he was stepping aside in his pregame press conference.
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The Mets are at 161 games because their contest against the Marlins on Thursday was suspended due to rain in the ninth inning with Miami ahead 2-1. The game won’t be completed because it won’t impact playoff seeding.
Nelson (1-0), the second of five Phillies pitchers, gave up one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three after Matt Strahm threw a 1-2-3 first. It was Nelson’s first appearance in the majors since he pitched in Game 3 of last year’s World Series.
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Seranthony Dominguez, Gregory Soto and Michael Lorenzen combined to retire the final eight batters they faced.
Bryson Stott had an RBI single in the third and Bohm snapped a tie with his 20th homer of the season in the sixth.
The Phillies added an insurance run in the eighth, when Brandon Marsh laced a run-scoring single, before turning the game into a rout with a six-run ninth. Johan Rojas had an RBI triple, Garrett Stubbs delivered a run-scoring single and Bohm lofted a sacrifice fly before Marsh hit a three-run homer.
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Jose Butto (1-4) took the loss for the Mets after allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over six innings.