Phillies Dominated by Jacob deGrom
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the New York Mets in a weekend series finale on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies ran into a buzzsaw named Jacob deGrom on Sunday afternoon. The Mets starting pitcher tossed the first one-hit shutout against the Phils in the history of Citizens Bank Park to lead New York to a 5-0 victory.
Thanks to the win, the Mets remained in a tie with the division-rival Miami Marlins for the final NL Wildcard playoff berth. The Marlins now come to Philly for a four-game series beginning on Monday evening.
That lone Phillies hit on this day came off the bat of rookie starting pitcher Zach Eflin, of all people. Eflin grounded a clean single up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the 3rd, which would turn out to be all the Phils would muster on the day.
On the mound, Eflin (2-3) delivered another Quality Start. He lasted six innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs, striking out two and walking two.
The Mets scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th to take a 3-0 lead through the middle of the game.
Juan Lagares, the Mets’ center fielder who was a thorn in the Phillies side the entire series, brought home the first run with a two-out RBI triple in the top of the 2nd.
In the top of the 3rd, Curtis Granderson lined his 16th home run of the season out to right-center field to make it a 2-0 game. In the 5th, deGrom singled with two outs, and rolled all the way home on a triple by Jose Reyes.
The Mets put two more on the board to end any possible drama when, with two outs in the top of the 8th inning James Loney singled and Asdrubal Cabrera ripped a two-run homer.
The Phillies are now a full seven games back in the NL Wildcard race, eight in the loss column, and are likely to begin seriously turning their attention to the MLB non-waiver trade deadline, now just two weeks away.