Philadelphia Phillies: Bryce Harper ejection highlights ugly loss to the Mets

The Philadelphia Phillies hot streak had to end eventually.

In quite explosive fashion, the Philadelphia Phillies found themselves dug into a hole on Saturday night without their best player. Despite almost everyone in the city of Philadelphia tuning into the Flyers depressing Game 7 loss instead, the Phillies themselves put up a poor performance of their own in game two of four against the New York Mets.

Following an awesome run of form which included winning ten of their last eleven, the Philadelphia Phillies entered Saturday night looking to extend their winning streak to the ever fateful six games in a row. Rookie pitcher Spencer Howard was taking the mound coming off his first career win earlier in the week, and he was squaring off against Mets righty Seth Lugo, who previously spent the majority of 2020 as the team’s closer.

Things got off to a pretty solid start, as Rhys Hoskins homered in just the second at-bat of the game. Pulling a pitch deep into right field, it was Hoskins’ eighth home run of the season, and it gave the Phils a 1-0 lead.

After that towering bomb however, the Phillies went completely ice cold at the plate. They finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and they left a mind numbing ten runners on base. The team as a whole made very little hard contact, and when they did, it seemed like it was always hit straight at a Mets fielder.

Despite having minimal starting experience this season, Mets RHP Seth Lugo was able to cruise along through 5.0 innings, allowing just the one run while striking out eight total batters. Even when the Phillies finally got to the Mets bullpen, they continued to struggle. Four different New York relievers combined for an additional five strikeouts through four total innings of work.

Rookie right-hander Spencer Howard definitely didn’t have the best of starts, but the box score doesn’t entirely tell the full story. The three runs that Howard allowed came off a ground-ball, a bloop single, and a botched sacrifice fly. Howard allowed just four hits and very minimal hard contact, while also putting up four Ks.

Howard’s command slipped as his pitch count started to rise, which has been a common occurrence during his debut season thus far, and Joe Girardi yanked him after just four innings of work. It’s not exactly what we all expected out of the team’s #2 overall prospect, but there’s still plenty of time for him to figure things out. His fastball was sitting at a consistent 93-95 mph this start, which is definitely an encouraging sign.

The night can pretty much be summed up by Bryce Harper‘s ejection, as he was quite wrongfully tossed for arguing with the first base umpire. Harper roped a ball down the line which appeared to be fair, however the ump ruled it foul, robbing Harper of a would-be double. Harper initially appeared to approach the umpire calmly to talk about it, but the ump was having none of it, resulting in an incredibly frustrated (and ejected) Harper.

Without their superstar leader guiding them through the comeback, the Philadelphia Phillies all but turned over for the remainder of the game. There were plenty of sloppy plays in the field, batters were swinging at pitches way outside the zone, and it all accumulated in a resounding 5-1 loss.

The bad news didn’t necessarily end after the loss either, as it was reported that Jay Bruce re-injured his left quad and that Roman Quinn had to go through concussion protocol. Two potentially huge losses to the outfield.

The Philadelphia Phillies have no time to dwell on this frustrating loss, as the race for the NL playoffs is still very much on. The Miami Marlins snatched a win from the Rays and the Phils have two more games against the Mets to take care off. Hopefully Harper isn’t ejected again on Sunday, as the team desperately needs his leadership (and production) moving forward.