Phillies Drop Series Finale Against Mets as Fifth Starter Losing Streak Hits 10

The Phillies fell 6-1 in Game 3 of this series, dropping the series finale for the first series loss to the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park in four years. Francisco Lindor‘s early two-run homer and a three-run second inning put the game away before the Phillies’ bats ever got going.

The Mets didn’t waste time getting the scoring started when Lindor launched a two-run home run from a four-seam fastball that caught too much of the plate, and it was quickly 2-0 before the Phils even came to the plate. In the second inning, the Mets added three more after loading the bases, making the game 5-0.

The Phils’ bullpen halted the Mets’ scoring until the top of the sixth when Juan Soto singled home Luis Torrens, making the score 6-0.

In the seventh, Alec Bohm hit a solo home run to chip away at the lead, making the game 6-1, which is where the game ended.

Phillies’ Struggles from the Fifth Spot Continue

In the last ten starts from the various starters at the bottom of the rotation, the Phils are winless. In this skid, the starters had a combined line of 41⅔ innings, 57 hits, 25 walks, 34 strikeouts, a near 2.00 WHIP, and a 7.40-plus ERA. Much of this was due in large part to Andrew Painter and Alan Rangel suffering from a lack of a put-away pitch, driving up the pitch counts, which it did in this game as well.

Through the first two innings, Rangel had 61 pitches; the last time a Phillies pitcher had more than 60 pitches in the first two innings was Zack Wheeler in June 2023. In this game, it wasn’t control, because Rangel threw 91 pitches, 63 of which were strikes for a 69% strike rate. On the other side, Nolan McLean had 93 pitches, 60 strikes, which is good for a 65% strike rate. The two main differences are that McLean pitched into the sixth inning, and Rangel made it through four. McLean has two pitches that are devastating put-away pitches, his sinker and sweeper move in different directions, and opposing hitters are batting .192 against those two pitches. This is something that is needed from the fifth spot in the Phils rotation; otherwise, adding a fifth starter to the trade deadline wishlist is going to be necessary for the front office.

Phillies’ Offense Wakes Up Late, Just Too Late

The Phillies couldn’t muster any success against McLean in the game, with nothing but non-competitive at-bats. When he departed in the sixth, they put a run on the board when Bohm hit his 12th home run of the season off of A.J. Minter, matching his output from last season.

Bohm bomb pic.twitter.com/z2i0PTLUXd

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 19, 2026

This was the first run the Phils have scored off Minter since 2023. They had two more hits in the inning until Edmundo Sosa grounded into an around-the-horn double play to end the rally.

The same issue that plagues the Phillies when they aren’t able to score runs was present again in this game — bad swings at the pitcher’s pitches. A big part of this was how McLean was throwing the ball early in the game, which set the tone for the game. In his six innings, he struck out 10 Phillies batters, but he also induced weak contact all game, only giving up two hits, and one of those was a come-backer, which took a weird bounce off of his foot.

If the Phils want to get back to winning series, they will have to select pitches better because the 14 strikeouts Phils hitters had are unacceptable, especially against the Dodgers and Yankees pitching staffs over the next two series.

Phillies Bullpen Bends but Doesn’t Break

The Phils’ bullpen has worked hard in this series, eating up three innings in Game 1 and four innings in Game 2, and with Rangel’s struggles in the first two innings, they would have to absorb five innings in this game. The Mets had traffic on the bases all game, but the bullpen arms danced in and out of trouble, with the only run given up being on Soto’s RBI single in the sixth.

Nowhere was this more noticeable than how Seth Johnson managed the top of the eighth inning. Though he has struggled this season, including giving up an earned run in Game 1 in his 2 innings of work, he dug deep in the eighth after giving up a hit and walking two to load the bases. With the bases loaded, he threw three straight balls to Marcus Semien before battling back to strike him out and getting Brett Baty to ground out to end the inning. Though Johnson would rather not have had his back against the wall as he did, this was definitely something to build on for the Phils.

The Phils welcome the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers to town this week with the pitching rotation resetting back to the top.

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