Mets' losing streak reaches five games with 11-3 loss to Phillies

The Mets' offense stayed cold and their pitching struggles continued in an 11-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

New York (76-70) has now lost five games in a row, falling 10 games back in the NL East.

Here are some takeaways…

— Clay Holmes struggled out of the gate, hitting Bryce Harper on his back foot to load the bases and giving up a RBI-single to J.T. Realmuto. After getting a strikeout, Holmes hit Max Kepler in nearly the exact same spot as Harper to walk in a run as the Phillies took a 2-0 lead. 

The right-hander avoided damage in the second despite letting up a one-out double to Harrison Bader. Holmes got in a little groove through the third and fourth innings, allowing just a single and a walk. The fifth inning was a different story — the righty let up a leadoff single followed by a double to Brandon Marsh as the Phillies went up 3-1, ending his night after 76 pitches.

Overall, Holmes allowed four runs on six hits over four-plus innings with five strikeouts and three walks.

— New York failed to capitalize after Juan Soto's one-out single against Cristopher Sánchez in the top of the first inning, as Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso both struck out. Sánchez kept it going and retired the next six Mets to breeze through the second and third innings.

— In the fourth inning, Soto blasted what looked like would be a home run, but due to fan interference, resulted in a double. He moved to third on Alonso's single and scored on Starling Marte's single to left field as the Mets trailed, 2-1.  That's all the Mets would get on the board with Brandon Nimmo grounding into the double play.

— Gregory Soto replaced Holmes with a runner on second and gave up a RBI-single to Kepler. The run was tacked on Holmes' line and made it a 4-1 game. Soto dialed in a retired the next three Phils, including back-to-back strikeouts. The left-hander couldn't stop the bleeding in the sixth inning, hitting two batters and letting two straight singles to Marsh and Kepler as the Phillies went up 7-1.

Ryne Stanek gave up a sac-fly and walk before ending the inning on a strikeout. Stanek surrendered another run in the seventh, a solo homer to Harper to make it a 9-1 game.

— Soto got his homer in the eighth with a 410-foot shot, his 39th of the season, as the Mets trailed 9-2. Soto finished the night 3-for-4, combining with Marte (2-for-4) for five of the team's six hits prior to the ninth inning. New York recorded three straight hits against Lou Trivino with Brett Baty driving in a run to make it 11-3.

— Ryan Helsley's struggles continued in the eighth, allowing two runs on three hits, including a homer to Kepler.

Game MVP: Max Kepler

Kepler finished his monster night 3-for-4 with five RBI.

Honorable mention: Sánchez, who gave up six runs against the Mets on Aug. 25, bounced back and dominated over six strong innings. He allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to 2.57.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Phillies wrap up their four-game series on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. on FOX.

It'll be a battle of the left-handers, as David Peterson (9-5, 3.72 ERA) faces Jesús Luzardo (13-6, 4.01 ERA).

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