Nick Nelson tossed 5 1/3 solid innings of bulk relief Sunday afternoon for the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, who prepared for the postseason by beating the New York Mets 9-1.
Alec Bohm hit the go-ahead homer for the defending National League champion Phillies (90-72), who will host the Miami Marlins in a best-of-three National League wild-card series beginning Tuesday.
Tim Locastro homered for the Mets (74-87), who announced the firing of manager Buck Showalter before the game. With David Stearns likely to join the team as president of baseball operations on Monday, owner Steve Cohen issued a statement in which he said he “let Buck know we’ll be parting ways” shortly after Showalter said he was stepping aside in his pregame press conference.
The Mets are at 161 games because their contest against the Marlins was suspended due to rain in the ninth inning Thursday with Miami ahead 2-1. The game won’t be completed because it won’t impact playoff seeding.
Nelson (1-0), the second of five Phillies pitchers, gave up one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three after Matt Strahm threw a 1-2-3 first. It was Nelson’s first appearance in the majors since he pitched in Game 3 of last year’s World Series.
Seranthony Dominguez, Gregory Soto and Michael Lorenzen combined to retire the final eight batters.
Bryson Stott had an RBI single in the third and Bohm snapped the tie with his 20th homer in the sixth. The Phillies added an insurance run in the eighth, when Brandon Marsh laced a run-scoring single, before turning the game into a rout with a six-run ninth. Johan Rojas had an RBI triple, Garrett Stubbs delivered a run-scoring single and Bohm lofted a sacrifice fly before Marsh hit a three-run homer.
Jose Butto (1-4) took the loss for the Mets after allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over six innings.
Ronny Mauricio had the Mets’ other hit, a fourth-inning single.
–Field Level Media