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Mets vs. Phillies score: Francisco Lindor's grand slam sends New York to NLCS for first time since 2015

The Mets will face either the Dodgers or the Padres

For the first time since 2015, the New York Mets have advanced to the National League Championship Series. The Mets ousted the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the Division Series on Wednesday night (NY 4, PHI 1). The Phillies are going home and the Mets will play either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres for the NL pennant.

The Game 4 win came courtesy of (who else?) Francisco Lindor. New York's MVP candidate turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead with his sixth inning grand slam off Carlos Estévez. Here is the game-winning blast:

The Phillies did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning. Edwin Díaz, who's had an extraordinarily heavy workload over the last two weeks, walked the first two batters of the inning. He rebounded, striking out Kody Clemens, getting Brandon Marsh to fly out to center, then striking out Kyle Schwarber to end the game. That was Philadelphia's last gasp.

Here is Díaz striking out Schwarber to send the Mets to the NLCS:

Jose Quintana held the Phillies to one unearned run in five innings while his counterpart, Ranger Suárez, had the epitome of a bend but don't break outing. He stranded the bases loaded in the first and second innings, and managed 4 1/3 scoreless innings despite allowing nine baserunners. Suárez struck out eight and really battled.

The story of the series was the Mets punishing Philadelphia's bullpen. They hit every relief Phillies manager Rob Thomson ran out there. In Game 4, it was Jeff Hoffman and Estévez. In the four-game NLDS, Philadelphia's bullpen allowed 17 runs on 20 hits and seven walks in 12 2/3 innings. The entire bullpen become unreliable.

The Mets, meanwhile, held the Phillies to 12 runs in the four-game series, and seven of the 12 came in Game 2. The Phillies scored only two runs in the first five innings of a game in the series. One was Kyle Schwarber's leadoff homer in Game 1. The other was Alec Bohm's RBI fielder's choice in the fourth inning of Game 4. They rarely played from ahead.

Since early June, the Mets have been the hottest team baseball, and they've already eliminated two division winners this postseason in the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers. Their offense has been relentless -- Game 4 was no better than their fourth-most miraculous comeback the last two weeks -- and their rotation on point.

The Phillies will head home for the winter and shift their focus to 2025. The Mets don't know who they're playing in the NLCS yet, though they will open on the west coast either way. The NLCS begins with Game 1 on Sunday.

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Live updates
 
 

Phillies strike first, lead Mets 1-0 in the fourth

The Phillies struck first in Game 4 at Citi Field. With out one, Bryce Harper worked a walk off Jose Quintana, and then Nick Castellanos doubled. That brought up Alec Bohm with runners on second and third, and he chopped a grounder to Mark Vientos at third base. Let's roll tape: 

That's an error on Vientos that allowed Harper to scurry home with the first run of the game. Quintana and the Mets were able to avoid further damage in the frame. 

 

Vientos made that exact same mistake with Stott the other day. I think he would have had a shot at Harper at the plate.

 

No third base defense, just vibes this game.

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Yes, lowest at 44%. Jack Flaherty was second a 45.7%.

 

That's what he does though. I believe he had the lowest zone rate in baseball this season. If not the lowest, then close to it.

 

Quintana has thrown 50% strikes. That's not what you want.

 

Expert analysis: The Phillies really need to score here. The offense has been struggling big time.

 

And there's that knock: a Castellanos double that has Philly in business.

 

Phillies with a baserunner here in the fourth. Still looking for a knock. 

 

Suárez gets through a third scoreless inning. It hasn't been pretty, but the Phillies will take it. 

 

Philadelphia's defense is nothing if not entertaining.

 

10 up, nine down for Jose Quintana. Two polar opposite pitching performances, yet no runs in the game.

 

The Mets have stranded six runners so far, but they have forced Suárez to throw 53 pitches through two innings. Hard to imagine he can make it much longer, which means Rob Thomson will either need to shred his bullpen or pick a bulk guy. The manager said pregame that Cristopher Sánchez will be available for one or two innings.

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Suárez escapes

The Mets have left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings. Obligatory "they might regret that" comment. Credit to Suárez for escaping those jams and not melting down. Like I said earlier, he's shown he's not going to spook in the postseason. It's scoreless through two.
 

Suárez has escaped bases loaded situations in both of his innings now. Could loom large if the Mets lose this game. 

 

Seems like Alec Bohm is in his own head. Two rough defensive plays and he's swinging at everything at the plate.

 

Phillies bullpen is already getting hot as Suárez continues struggling.

 

It is not so far. A walk and a single puts two on with no outs.

 

Suárez out for his second inning of work, hoping it goes smoother than the first. 

 

Suárez escapes

Strikes out Jose Iglesias and JD Martinez with the bases loaded. Some crafty pitching, that was. It's scoreless one inning into the game.
 

(It was almost certainly hit too slowly to turn any kinda double play. But still, zero outs when they should have gotten at least one.)

 

Much like the Dodgers in that disaster second inning yesterday, the Phillies turned a potential double play ball into zero outs. Alec Bohm didn't tag the runner going from second to third, and Pete Alonso beat the throw at first. Bases loaded, one out.

 

The risk with Ranger Suárez is always that he comes out and has no idea where the ball is going. Well...

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Vientos with a one-out double. Mets in business early.

 

Ranger Suárez has been terrific in the postseason in his career: 1.92 ERA in 33 1/3 innings. He stumbled down the stretch during the regular season, but he's shown he won't scare in October. Doesn't mean he's guaranteed to pitch well. Only that he can handle this time of year.

 

Mets coming to bat after a clean top of the first.

 

Welcome to Game 4

Ranger Suárez vs. Jose Quintana. If the Mets win, they go to the NLCS. If the Phillies win, there will be a win or go home Game 5 on Friday. The Phillies have scored 11 runs in this series, but only one in the first five innings of the game. That was Kyle Schwarber's leadoff homer in Game 1. The rest of their scoring has come in the late innings. Scoring early and playing from ahead would do wonders for the Phillies, I reckon.

 

Battle of the pop stars

Choose your fighter
 

Just about to get underway at Citi. Mets a win away from the NLCS.

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