Phillies earn another series win and first place in the NL East with a 7-1 win over the Mets

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 22, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Imagine this scenario: It’s the middle innings of a playoff game, and Juan Soto steps to the plate for the New York Mets. It’s probably a close game. Maybe there are runners on base.

Which Phillies pitcher should face him?

Before you answer, go rewatch Soto’s at-bat in the sixth inning Sunday night. It lasted six pitches, including an up-and-in sinker that Soto swung at while ducking out of the way. And when it ended, with a wave at 97-mph heat, the Mets slugger smiled, bowed slightly and shook his head.

Think he wants to face Jesús Luzardo again?

OK, so Luzardo’s mastery of Soto didn’t decide the outcome. Far from it. At the time, the Phillies led by five runs en route to a 7-1 thumping to clinch their fourth consecutive winning series and retake sole possession of first place in the NL East, one game ahead of the Mets.

It wasn’t even the game’s most memorable at-bat. That belonged to Kyle Schwarber, whose 432-foot homer off the ivy-covered center-field batter’s eye started a five-run fourth inning against David Peterson, the first lefty starter the Phillies faced in 12 games.

Super-sub Edmundo Sosa, part of a makeshift lineup that featured rookie infielder Otto Kemp in left field and only one left-handed hitter (Schwarber), delivered a three-run homer to open a 5-0 lead.

None of the three games was close. The Phillies won a 10-2 knee-slapper Friday night; the Mets slugged seven solo homers in a 10-2 giggler Saturday night. The finale lacked drama, too.

The Phillies and Mets won’t meet again until Aug. 25 in New York. There are lot more sweaty summer nights until then. The trade deadline is approaching on July 31. Both rosters will surely churn and change.

But the division rivals have two of the four best records in the National League, so it’s never too early to dream about a potential rematch of last year’s divisional round series.

Soto, the Mets’ $765 million man, would be a main character.

The Phillies won’t have lefty reliever José Alvarado, who can return in August from an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test but is ineligible for the postseason. Matt Strahm, the top lefty in the bullpen, tossed a spotless ninth inning, an encouraging sign after struggling recently.

Executives across the game expect that the Phillies will be shopping for bullpen help before July 31. But they also have a surplus of healthy starters, even with Aaron Nola on the injured list through at least the All-Star break.

Maybe one of those starters can aid the bullpen.

Luzardo, the Phillies’ top offseason addition in a trade with the Marlins, blazed through the season’s first two months with a 2.15 ERA in 11 starts. But he stumbled badly in back-to-back starts against the Brewers and Cubs, then made adjustments when the Phillies believed he might have been tipping pitches.

The Mets could scarcely touch Luzardo for 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He scattered three singles, walked one batter and generated 19 swings and misses.

None was more impressive than the strikeout of Soto.