Alvarez Goes Deep Twice, Mets Silence Phillies 4-1

Francisco Alvarez hit two home runs and drove in two runs as the Mets handed the Phillies a 4-1 loss on Thursday. The story of the night was a catcher putting the game away almost single-handedly — and a pitching staff that made it look easy.

Christian Scott set the tone before Alvarez even got his second swing. The right-hander went 5.2 innings, allowing just 3 hits, zero earned runs, zero walks, and striking out 7. That's a performance that looks like a genuine statement — efficient, dominant, and exactly what a rotation needs from a starter. Aaron Nola, meanwhile, ran into trouble: 6 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, and 4 walks. The walk total appears to be where this game slipped away from Philadelphia.

The scoring told the story cleanly. Alvarez opened it in the third inning with a 416-foot shot to center — a ball hit with the kind of authority that changes a dugout's energy. The Mets went quiet for a few frames, then erupted in the seventh. Brett Baty homered to right center (378 feet), pushing the lead to 2-0, and that swing was the turning point: Philadelphia's win probability dropped from 33% to 19% on that one swing of the bat. Alvarez wasn't done — he followed Baty with a homer to left (363 feet), making it 3-0 and effectively closing the door on any Phillies comeback. Trea Turner answered with a solo shot to left in the eighth (383 feet) to make it 3-1, but it was cosmetic. A.J. Ewing's RBI double to left in the ninth — scoring Young — pushed the final to 4-1 and removed any remaining doubt.

Devin Williams closed it out with a clean ninth: 1.0 inning, no hits, no walks, one strikeout. The Mets got contributions up and down the lineup — Juan Soto went 1-for-1, Carson Benge went 1-for-4 — but this game belonged to Alvarez and the pitching staff. Two home runs, two RBI, two runs scored from the catcher's spot is the kind of output that carries a ballclub. The Phillies, for their part, appear to have been undone by a combination of Nola's command issues and an Alvarez who was simply locked in from his first at-bat. New York takes this one, 4-1.