Mets end abysmal road trip with another Edwin Diaz implosion

PHILADELPHIA — The bats came back just in time. But the bullpen nightmares did, too.

So the Mets left Citizens Bank Park beaten, battered and beaten again from a road trip that came to a close in brutal fashion.

After Todd Frazier’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth pulled the Mets from the depths of despair in a three-run rally, the Phillies came back in the bottom half to stomp on their throats one more time with a pair of crushing home runs off Edwin Diaz to win, 6-3, and complete a four-game sweep.

Jean Segura finished off the game with a two-run shot to left field, four batters after Maikel Franco had tied it with a two-run bomb.

Diaz’s blown save was the Mets’ 20th of the season, their third in the series and fourth in the past five games. He issued a leadoff walk to Cesar Hernandez before Franco took him deep to left-center field. Diaz retired the next better, but then walked Sean Rodriguez and allowed a single to Scott Kingery before Segura’s homer.

The Mets (37-45) were left licking their wounds as they headed home, where a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the 1969 World Series championship team awaited. They are a season-high eight games under .500 and at least 11 games back of the Braves for first place in the NL East.

In the top of the ninth, the Mets rallied against Phillies closer Hector Neris, who was pitching for the third straight day. Michael Conforto singled to right field with one out before Frazier worked a full count and crushed his 10th homer of the year into the seats in left field for the 2-1 lead.

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Dominic Smith and Wilson Ramos followed with back-to-back singles before Neris was removed, and Amed Rosario added an insurance run when he drove in Smith on a groundout to make it 3-1.

The Mets had just one hit entering the ninth inning, and it belonged to Zack Wheeler, who had been on the hook for the loss because one of the two hits he gave up was a solo home run to Bryce Harper in the sixth.

Wheeler had led off the top of the sixth inning by grounding a single up the middle for the Mets’ first hit of the day. A fielder’s choice and walk later, they had a chance to break up Aaron Nola’s shutout with two outs. But Frazier ripped a one-hopper to shortstop, where Jean Segura picked it and fired to first to end the inning as Frazier slammed his helmet in frustration.

Nola breezed through the Mets lineup until the sixth, allowing only two baserunners on an error and hit batter. He had set the tone for his day when he struck out the side on 12 pitches in the first inning.

The Mets finally got Nola out of the game in the bottom of the seventh, when the Phillies were threatening and they lifted him for a pinch-hitter. Brooks Pounders buckled down to keep the deficit at 1-0, which loomed large in the ninth.

Wheeler allowed a leadoff single to Scott Kingery in the first, but settled into a groove after that. The only baserunners he allowed after that, before Harper’s homer, were on a pair of walks, an error and a fielder’s choice. He escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the third by retiring the next three batters in order, including winning an eight-pitch battle with Harper for a strikeout to end the inning.

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