Soto's Three-Run Shot Sinks the Phillies as the Last-Place Mets Play Spoiler
Juan Soto's 26th homer of the season broke open a tight game in the sixth as the Mets beat Philadelphia 6-3 — an irritating loss for a Phillies team still chasing NL playoff seeding.
The Mets' season went sideways months ago, but at Citi Field on Friday they showed they can still shape someone else's. Juan Soto's three-run homer in the sixth inning — his 26th of the year — turned a 3-2 squeaker into a 6-3 win over a Philadelphia team with real September stakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd52VymK4P4
How it unfolded
New York jumped on the Phillies immediately: Carson Benge lined an RBI single in the first and rookie A.J. Ewing followed with a two-run single for a 3-0 lead, per MLB.com. Philadelphia chipped back — Bryson Stott's RBI double in the second, then Edmundo Sosa's solo homer in the sixth made it 3-2 — while Jose Urquidy quietly threw four scoreless innings from the second through the fifth, per Amazin' Avenue.
The game turned when Orion Kerkering relieved Urquidy in the bottom of the sixth. Two singles later, Soto got a pitch to hit and did not miss it. Derek Hill's solo shot in the seventh, his 11th, was all the response Philadelphia mustered — the Phillies went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, managed six hits, and got a combined 1-for-18 from the top of the order. Ewing bookended the night with a game-sealing running catch in the ninth.
Why it stings for Philadelphia
Torch's live table tells the story: the Phillies (86-70) sit second in the NL East, six back of Atlanta, effectively playing for wild-card seeding — and every loss to a team like the Mets (71-85), last in the division, is a seeding game given away. With the Cubs and Padres both at 87-69, home-field advantage in a wild-card round is being decided by exactly these games.
The four-game series continued Saturday with Andrew Painter lined up against Christian Scott — a matchup of two of the game's most-watched young arms, and another chance for the spoilers to spoil.