Bryce Harper hit two home runs, Cal Stevenson hit a two-run, go-ahead double in the seventh and made a run-saving, highlight-reel catch in the eighth, and the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies came back to cool off the New York Mets with a 6-4 victory on Saturday.
JT Realmuto added an RBI double for the Phillies, who have won 10 of 13 and lead the Mets in the division by eight games. The teams wrap up the three-game series on Sunday afternoon before the Mets host the Phillies for four games from Sept. 19-22.
Starling Marte singled, tripled and drove in three runs and Luisangel Acuña had a pair of singles in his major-league debut for the Mets, who have lost for just the third time in their last 15 games. New York entered play Saturday with the final wild-card spot in the National League, one game ahead of the Braves.
With his team down 4-0, Harper launched the first of his two drives off starter Luis Severino with one out in the fourth, a 397-foot opposite-field drive off an 85-mph changeup. He pulled Philadelphia within 4-3 in the sixth with a two-run shot off an 87-mph slider that came on a 3-2 count. The two-time NL MVP, who hadn’t hit a home run since Aug. 9, has 28 homers on the year.
Philadelphia took the lead in the seventh inning. Danny Young (4-1) surrendered a pair of singles to Bryson Stott and Realmuto to start the frame, with both advancing on Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice bunt. Young slammed his glove and hat into the bench in the New York dugout in frustration after being lifted by manager Carlos Mendoza for Reed Garrett.
Garrett struck out pinch-hitter Weston Wilson, then Stevenson hit a 3-2, 92 mph cutter to the wall in right field, scoring Stott and Realmuto.
Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Carlos Estévez finished it off in the ninth for his 26th save in 31 chances and sixth in eight tries since joining the Phillies before the trade deadline.
Hoffman got some help from Stevenson in center field when he robbed JD Martinez of a home run with a fly ball near the wall for the first out of the eighth inning.
Orion Kerkering (5-2) worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning after Taijuan Walker threw three scoreless innings in relief of starter Kolby Allard.
New York gave Severino a four-run cushion. Marte worked a bases-loaded walk in the first inning before hitting a two-run triple off Allard in the Mets’ three-run third inning to continue his run against Philadelphia. Marte is hitting .375 in his career against the Phillies.
Allard, the fourth different No. 5 starter to be used in as many trips through the rotation, lasted just three innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Walker, whom the Phillies signed to a four-year, $72 million free-agent contract before the 2023 season, excelled in his new role after being demoted to the bullpen due to ineffectiveness as a starter.
Acuña recorded his first hit with a single to center field off Walker to lead off the fourth inning and led off the ninth with a single to center field off Estévez. Acuña, a younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., is one of the organization’s top prospects. He batted .258 with 40 steals while splitting time between second base, shortstop and center field with Triple-A Syracuse.
Acuña, 22, started at shortstop and batted ninth. He came over when the Mets traded Max Scherzer to Texas in July 2023. Acuña was promoted a day after All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor left Friday night’s 11-3 win over the Phillies in the seventh inning because of lower back pain. Mendoza said the move was a precaution.
Severino surrendered three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings. The 30-year-old right-handed pitcher made two All-Star teams with the Yankees before signing a one-year, $13 million contract in the offseason with the Mets after an injury-plagued season and a 6.65 ERA in 2023.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: 3B Alec Bohm (left hand injury) and INF Edmundo Sosa (back spasms) played Saturday for Triple-A Lehigh Valley on rehab assignments. Harper winced while batting in the eighth inning and showed his right arm. He recently told MLB.com that he was playing with a sore wrist and a sore right elbow.
Mets: Marte took a 95 mph sinker to her left forearm in the eighth inning but stayed in the game.
NEXT
Mets LHP David Peterson (9-2, 2.98) takes on Philadelphia LHP Cristopher Sánchez (10-9, 3.33) in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
