Five Mets pitchers combine to no-hit the Phillies in a 3-0 loss to New York

NEW YORK — The Phillies rolled into Citi Field on Friday fresh off of a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, hoping to capitalize on all of the momentum they’d built. Instead, they got no-hit by the Mets in a 3-0 loss.

The combined no-hitter by starter Tylor Megill and four relievers marked the 23rd time in the Phillies’ 139-year history that they’ve been no-hit. It marked the 19th time the Phillies have been no-hit in nine innings, and the first time since Josh Beckett did it for the Dodgers in 2014. It was only second no-hitter in Mets history, 10 years after Johan Santana pitched the first one against St. Louis.

Megill pitched the first five innings and was lifted after 88 pitches. He allowed three walks and had five strikeouts. His fastball, which sat at 96 and 95 mph for most of the night, had good ride to it, which made even more difficult to hit.

“I think he’s really good,” Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said of Megill (4-0, 1.93 ERA). “He’s got some really good stuff. He’s got really good length on his heater. It’s like you’re on it and then you’re not. He does a great job of pitching. He pitches to his strengths, heater up, slider, change. I thought all around they threw the ball well tonight, and sometimes when that happens: things go right and, you know, no hits.”

The Mets’ bullpen didn’t make it much easier on the Phillies bats, with the four relievers collectively allowing three walks and striking out seven through the last four innings. Drew Smith entered in the sixth inning and was followed by Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz.

Diaz, the Mets’ closer, struck out Harper, Nick Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto in the ninth, to chants of “Let’s Go Mets.”

The Phillies got to a few deep counts, got six baserunners on via walks, and made some solid contact, but none of those balls fell for a hit. In the Rockies series earlier this week, the Phillies were gifted a few runs just by Colorado’s defensive shortcomings. The Mets did not extend that same charity on Friday. Mets outfielders Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha both robbed the Phillies of what seemed like sure hits. No errors were committed by the Mets (while the Phillies, on the other hand, had a few ugly defensive plays but just one error).

That the Phillies were able to beat up on a mediocre team like the Rockies should be commended, because that’s something they haven’t always been able to do in the past. But the ability to beat up on a division rival is also important, even if that rival is one of the best teams in baseball.

The Phillies went 10-9 against the Mets in 2021. They went 9-10 against the Marlins and the Braves in 2021. Those teams are arguably all better in 2022 (depending on where you fall on the Matt Olson versus Freddie Freeman debate). For a team that’s looking to end its postseason drought, it’s not going to get much easier from here. It certainly wasn’t easy on Friday night.

“Forget it,” Castellanos said after the game. “That’s the best way to bounce back. What are you going to learn from getting no-hit? You just forget it. Short-term memory. Have a good dinner, enjoy the night in New York City, get ready to play tomorrow.”

Friday was a test for Aaron Nola. Five days earlier, he’d thrown seven scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing only one hit and one walk, but that was against an offense that has a .209 cumulative batting average and a .617 cumulative OPS.

The Mets’ offense is far more formidable. Heading into Friday’s game, they led the major leagues in hits (174), ranked second in OBP (.343) and batting average (.259) and ranked third in runs (95). Even still, Nola held up well against them. He cruised through his first four innings, striking out seven and allowing only two hits and no runs. In the fifth inning he ran into trouble, allowing two runners to get on base before Jeff McNeil singled to score both of them.

In the sixth inning, he allowed a solo homer to Pete Alonso, off a poorly placed changeup that landed right in the middle of the plate. By the end of his night, Nola had given up three earned runs, seven hits, struck out nine and allowed no walks, through six innings.

“I felt pretty good,” Nola said. “Kind of on and off a little bit. Ran into some trouble in the fifth inning. But other than that, I felt like I was getting ahead of guys. Besides that inning, and the home run, I felt pretty good overall.”

It wasn’t a sterling outing like Megill’s, but it was encouraging for a pitcher who has long been plagued by inconsistency. In two starts, he faced two vastly different offenses, and found results that weren’t drastically different.

“They have some guys who are swinging the bats pretty well,” manager Joe Girardi said of Nola’s start. “It’s an offense that has switch-hitters and a few left-handed hitters. It’s a challenging offense to face. But I thought he threw the ball really well.”

The Phillies will face the Mets at 7:10 pm on Saturday in the second game of the three-game series. Right-hander Kyle Gibson (2-1, 3.47 ERA) will face Mets right-hander Taijuan Walker (0-0, 0.00 ERA).