Phillies punch ticket to postseason by beating Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK — They say the third time’s the charm.
After failing to win on consecutive nights, the Phillies finally cleared the hurdle by checking off the first of three major goals on the club’s end-of-season checklist, securing a playoff spot.
The Phillies punched their ticket to the playoffs for the third consecutive season with an explosive 12-2 victory over the Mets. It was only the third time the Phillies had secured a postseason spot in three consecutive seasons (1967-78, 2007-11).
Red October, here we come.
Friday marked Sanchez’s 30th start of the season — he’s the first left-handed pitcher to make 30 starts in a season since Cole Hamels in 2014. Sanchez’s road starts in 2024 have been a bit of a thorn in his side — and in his 14th start at a venue not called Citizens Bank Park — those issues persisted early on (though he recovered shortly thereafter).
On his third pitch of the night, he gave up a home run to Jose Inglesias, Inglesias’ first career leadoff home run and his fourth of the season.
Sanchez couldn’t finish the next two batters he faced, resulting in the Phillies trailing by two runs in the first inning for the second consecutive night. Not ideal.
What was *ideal* … was seeing the Phillies’ immediate response. Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos had back-to-back singles, followed by Pete Alonso missing a routine popup from JT Realmuto to load the bases with no outs.
Only one run crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Edmundo Sosa. If they didn’t win the game, it would haunt them.
New York’s two-out run production was a welcome change. Five of their six runs scored Thursday night came with two outs. Their second run Friday night was the same.
Bryce Harper and Bohm singled in the third. Harper scored on a Castellanos double, but a wild pitch surprised catcher Luis Torrens — so Bohm tried to score. The ball bounced off the wall back to Torrens … and the only thing bouncing more was Bohm as he tried to avoid the tag from Mets pitcher David Peterson.
Seriously, he tried to avoid the tag by jumping out of his slide to leap over Peterson and touch the plate. It was an impressive feat, but Bohm was ultimately tagged. If they didn’t win the game, *that* would haunt them.
By that point, the Phillies were making solid contact at the plate, Sanchez had turned in his best inning of the young evening … and then the baseball gods arrived.
Sosa and Weston Wilson were in scoring position when Johan Rojas dribbled a ball down the third base line past Mark Vientos. Fortunately for the Mets, the ball boy behind him caught it without incident. He, of course, thought it was a foul.
Both runs scored, the Phillies took their first lead of the series and scored a six-run inning, including a three-run home run by Bohm.
Remember those first-inning struggles Sanchez had? Say goodbye to them.
He did run into trouble in the fifth inning, when he loaded the bases with two outs by giving up a double and two walks… but he came out of the inning unscathed.
The magic number to win the division is now one.
If the Phillies can split the four-game series with the Mets, they will return home for the final home game of the regular season and win their first division title since 2011.
Two years ago, Ranger Suarez left the bullpen to secure the final outs in the NLCS and send his club to the World Series.
On Saturday, he gets the chance to set the tone for October and deliver his club the NL East title.
Suarez has been shaky since returning from the 15-day injured list on Aug. 24 with lower back pain. In his five starts since then, the left-handed pitcher is 2-2 with a 4.44 ERA. He has gone deeper than five innings just once.
How then can we be so sure that “Mr. Rager” can get the job done?
When the lights are brightest, when the stakes are highest, you see the same Ranger as you do every other night. No pressure. No pulse. Just locked in and ready to go.
Whether that will still be the case tomorrow, we will see.
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