NEW YORK — Sean Manaea carried a shutout into the eighth inning and benefited from strong defense behind him Tuesday by the host New York Mets, who beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 in Game 3 of a National League Division Series.
Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker homered, Starling Marte and Jose Iglesias each had two-run singles and Francisco Lindor added an RBI double for the Mets, who lead the best-of-five series two games to one. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, when host New York will aim to reach the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2015.
The Phillies, who reached the World Series in 2022 and the NLCS in 2023, haven’t won a game when facing elimination since defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series.
Manaea (1-0), who entered Tuesday with a 10.66 ERA in four career playoff appearances, gave up one run on three hits while striking out six, walking two and plunking two over seven-plus innings.
The most well-struck hit off Manaea was Alec Bohm’s one-out single off the right-center field wall in the fourth, but center fielder Tyrone Taylor barehanded the carom and fired to shortstop Francisco Lindor, who made a swipe tag at the sliding Bohm.
Manaea got out of a jam in the sixth, when he walked Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to open the inning. The 32-year-old southpaw then struck out Bryce Harper on three pitches and got Nick Castellanos to line to second, where Iglesias tossed to Lindor to double up Schwarber.
Manaea exited to a standing ovation after giving up Edmundo Sosa’s infield single leading off the eighth. Harper and Castellanos had back-to-back two-out RBI singles against Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek before Bohm flew out to strand two.
Alonso continued his run of dramatic moments by homering on the first pitch he saw from Aaron Nola (0-1) in the second inning. It was the third homer in the last four games for Alonso, an impending free agent who extended the Mets’ season by hitting a three-run ninth-inning homer last Thursday in New York’s 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of an NL wild card series.
Winker homered deep into the second deck in right in the fourth. Marte and Iglesias added their insurance hits in the sixth and seventh before Lindor delivered his hit with two outs in the eighth.
Nola (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out eight over five-plus innings.
–Jerry Beach, Field Level Media