With a lopsided victory Friday night, the Philadelphia Phillies officially punched their ticket to the playoffs and inched closer to winning the National League East title.
The one-sided defeat finally slowed down the New York Mets and reminded them of their potentially precarious path to the postseason.
The Phillies will look to clinch the NL East on Saturday, when they visit the Mets in the third contest of a four-game series between the division rivals.
Ranger Suarez (12-7, 3.13 ERA) is slated to start for the Phillies against fellow left-hander Sean Manaea (11-5, 3.26).
Alec Bohm had four hits — including a homer — and collected four RBIs on Friday as the Phillies rolled to a 12-2 victory.
The win clinched no worse than a wild-card berth for the Phillies (92-62), who are in the postseason for the third straight year. Philadelphia reduced its magic number for winning the NL East to one.
Manager Rob Thomson oversaw a champagne toast Friday night for the Phillies, who acknowledged they will have a bigger party upon clinching the NL East. However, after consecutive trips deep into October, Philadelphia has bigger intentions.
“It’s difficult to get to this point,” Thomson said. “There’s a lot of really good teams out there. You’ve got to overcome obstacles. The goal is now firmly entrenched that it’s to win a World Series and that’s it. And that’s good to feel. It really is.”
The Mets (85-69) have overcome a slow start — they were as many as 11 games under .500 in late May and early June — and moved into a playoff spot by posting the best record in baseball (61-34) since June 2.
New York entered Friday having scored 10 runs in each of its previous three games, the first such streak in franchise history, while starting pitchers Tylor Megill, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino allowed just four runs (three earned) in 19 innings against the Washington Nationals and the Phillies.
David Peterson lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings on Friday as New York’s four-game winning streak ended. The Mets scored twice in the first inning but managed just four hits overall in their fifth game without Francisco Lindor, who is sidelined due to a sore back. Lindor received a facet injection on Thursday and participated in baseball activities on Friday.
“I believe in what the guys have,” Lindor said of his teammates. “The guys have scored a lot of runs in the (previous) games. They have played extremely well and I believe in what we have.”
Suarez took the loss in his Monday start, when he allowed three runs over five innings as the Phillies fell 6-2 to the host Milwaukee Brewers. He is 4-3 with a 3.51 ERA in 15 career games (eight starts) against the Mets, including 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in two starts this season.
Manaea didn’t factor into the decision Monday after giving up one run over seven innings in the Mets’ 2-1, 10-inning win over the Nationals. He is 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA in five games (three starts) against the Phillies, including 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA in two starts this season.
