Mets-Phillies recap: New York loses on Sunday after bullpen melts down in eighth inning

Things have not been going great for the New York Mets of late, with Steve Cohen's record payroll producing a roster that entered play on Sunday mired in fourth in the NL East at 35-41. But hey, New York got a strong effort from Max Scherzer to beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, and Sunday was looking pretty good too: the offense jumped on former Met Zack Wheeler, middle relief did its job and the team took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. Their first series win in the month of June was almost at hand.

And that's went things went horribly, almost inconceivably wrong. First, Josh Walker surrendered a single and two walks before being removed without recording an out. You might think that, with the tying run on first and no one out, manager Buck Showalter might turn to David Robertson – hands down the team's best reliever this season – to get out of the jam. You would be mistaken.

Showalter instead handed the ball to Jeff Brigham, who entered Sunday holding a 4.00 ERA and had issued four walks over his last three innings. To Brigham's credit, he induced a tailor-made double-play ball to third base … only for rookie Brett Baty to get the ball stuck in his glove.

  
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