As Buck Showalter likes to say: “Tell the baseball gods your plans and they’ll laugh in your face.”
Dominic Smith might have been on the chopping block, however then he crushed too many baseballs to care. Smith loved a 4-for-4 evening on the plate with three RBI and a run scored, serving to lead the Mets to a 10-6 win over the Phillies on Sunday evening at Citi Field. Smith matched his career-high of 4 hits in a recreation, doing so for the primary time since Sept. 6, 2020, which was additionally in opposition to the Phillies.
The Mets (16-7) gained their seventh-straight sequence to begin the yr, changing into the primary group to win their first seven sequence because the 2018 Diamondbacks.
Smith is among the many few Mets gamers, alongside J.D. Davis and Luis Guillorme, who’ve minor-league choices forward of Monday’s midday deadline to trim rosters right down to 26 males. Smith entered Sunday evening batting 6-for-36 throughout 19 video games with restricted alternatives to contribute in an on a regular basis function resulting from Pete Alonso’s custody of first base and the revolving door at designated hitter.
But after Smith crammed up his column within the scorecard with a single, an RBI double, a two-run single and—only for good measure—one other single, he pressured the Mets hand. If the Mets, after Smith’s breakout evening on the plate, resolve to incorporate him as a part of their two roster cuts on Monday, it will likely be each cold-blooded and riot-inducing for his or her fan base.
Max Scherzer wasn’t his most dominant self on Sunday in opposition to a tricky Phillies lineup, however he nonetheless managed to earn his fourth win as a Met and prolong his unbeaten-starts streak to 24 consecutive outings.
Scherzer allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, together with three house runs, with one stroll and 9 strikeouts in his six-inning begin at Citi Field. The right-hander got here out firing, putting out the primary 5 batters he confronted, earlier than a sure divisional enemy opened the floodgates.
Kyle Schwarber, the continuing Mets killer, grew to become the final word Mets killer on Sunday when he hit not one, however two house runs off Scherzer. Schwarber has cranked 16 house runs in his first 36 video games in opposition to the Mets, together with 11 because the begin of final season. Schwarber and the Phillies will meet the Mets once more earlier than the week is over, when the Amazin’s go to Philly on Thursday for a four-game sequence.
On Monday, the Mets will tackle their subsequent NL East division rival, the second-place Braves, in a four-game sequence at Citi Field. This week will characteristic the primary assembly of the season between the Mets and Braves, and Chris Bassitt will kick off the sequence opener together with his fifth begin of the yr.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com