None of that mattered against Scott, who kept the Phillies off the board deep into the game while the Mets chipped away. A run in the 3rd got the scoring started, and New York broke it open late — 2 more in the 7th, another in the 9th — while Philadelphia's lone run didn't come until the 8th. For a Mets team playing out the string at 40-57 under interim manager Andy Green, it was about as clean a night as this roster's had in weeks.
This is the kind of loss that stings more than a typical series opener for Philadelphia. A team trying to chase down a division lead can't afford a bullpen bleeding runs in July, and Keller's injury means the back of games gets even thinner. The offense didn't do Nola or the pen any favors either — just 4 hits and 1 run isn't the formula for erasing a rough stretch.
Green's Mets, by contrast, have nothing to lose and increasingly look like it. Scott has quietly turned into one of the few bright spots in a lost season, and this was the kind of complete effort — length from the starter, a clean finish from the pen — this club hasn't strung together often. It won't move the standings, but nights like this are exactly what an interim staff wants to see from its young arms.
For Philadelphia, the real worry isn't one bad night — it's whether the bullpen crunch turns into a summer-long problem right when every win matters in a crowded NL East chase. For the Mets, this one's about individual building blocks, not the table. Both storylines carry into the rest of the series.