Jay Bruce hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning off closer Edwin Diaz, Mets Manager Mickey Callaway lost an early replay challenge that might have cost him late, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the host Mets, 7-2, on Friday night.
Nine days after blowing a save in Philadelphia, Diaz (1-6) allowed a double by J. T. Realmuto and Bruce’s run-scoring single to start the ninth, which broke a 2-2 tie. The Phillies poured it on after that, batting around and scoring five runs against Diaz, Jeurys Familia and Luis Avilan. Jean Segura drove in two with a double, and Bryce Harper scored him with a two-base hit to cap a rocky day that started with three strikeouts against Jacob deGrom.
Philadelphia tied it in the seventh on a close play that Callaway couldn’t challenge. Rhys Hoskins scored on a slow roller toward third from Cesar Hernandez, but replays showed that catcher Wilson Ramos had apparently tagged Hoskins before he touched the plate. The Mets couldn’t ask for a review, however, because Callaway had unsuccessfully used the club’s challenge in the second inning on a stole-base attempt by Todd Frazier. Umpires can’t initiate a crew chief review until the eighth inning.
The Phillies have won six straight over the Mets for the first time since a nine-game streak spanning 2007 and ’08. The Mets have won the season series the past seven years, but Philadelphia is 8-3 in the rivalry this season and needs two more wins to end that skid.
The Mets traded away Bruce in a seven-player deal that brought back Diaz from Seattle in the off-season. Bruce also beat the Mets with a game-ending double during Philadelphia’s four-game sweep at home last week.
DeGrom allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings, striking out 10 after allowing a homer to Scott Kingery on the first pitch of the game.
Pete Alonso accounted for the Mets’ first two runs with his 29th homer and an R.B.I. double. He scored Jeff McNeil, a fellow All-Star, with the latter against Vince Velasquez to make it 2-1 Mets in the fifth.
Velasquez pitched two-run ball over five innings, striking out six. The Phillies have allowed 151 homers the most in the National League.
Adam Morgan (3-3) got two outs on two pitches to end the eighth.
The Mets celebrated “Seinfeld” Night 30 years to the day after the show’s debut. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld threw out the first pitch, a perfect strike from a full windup atop the mound.
“On the money,” Seinfeld said. “It was the greatest moment of my life.”