Alex McFarlane's crucial strikeout, Justin Crawford's three-run triple lifts Phillies past Mets

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Alex McFarlane decided to challenge him.

The rookie reliever had inherited a runner from Cristopher Sánchez in the seventh, and had then allowed two singles to flip the Mets’ lineup back over. To get out of the jam, he now had to contend with New York’s biggest power threat: Juan Soto.

But in the two months that McFarlane has been a mainstay in the Phillies bullpen, he’s been put in a lot of tough situations. Soto, even with his 1.001 OPS against righties like McFarlane, was hardly any different.

And so McFarlane attacked him with three straight heaters, dialing it up to 100 mph to blow it by Soto for the strikeout. He stranded the tying run at first base in a key moment in the Phillies’ 7-2 win over the Mets, as the club shrank their magic number to clinch the playoffs to three.

McFarlane’s performance, which lowered his ERA to 2.35, was also significant in light of the recent turmoil in the Phillies’ bullpen. They had optioned Orion Kerkering to Triple-A Lehigh Valley earlier on Sunday after his second-half struggles reached a boiling point. Jonathan Bowlan has been progressing, but is down with a groin strain. The bullpen has been hanging by a thread, but McFarlane again proved his mettle.

And he wasn’t the only rookie to come through. An inning later, Justin Crawford delivered a three-run triple with a line drive that split the Mets outfielders. Even a minor collision with an umpire on the basepaths couldn’t stop J.T. Realmuto from scoring from first base.

The big hit gave the Phillies enough of a cushion to give the ball to Chase Shugart for the eighth. And Crawford helped him out as well, recovering from an initial misread on a liner from Bo Bichette to make a sliding grab. Bryson Stott also made a grab on a fly ball while falling down for the second out.

The Phillies and Mets avoided any delays even with inclement weather in the area, playing through rain for most of the game.

They jumped out on Mets right-hander Jonah Tong early. Kyle Schwarber led off the first and third innings by drawing a walk, and both times it helped spark a rally from the top of the order. He was aggressive on the basepaths, successfully tagging up on a Luis Arraez sacrifice fly to left field in the first inning, and then scoring from first base on a double from Trea Turner in the third.

Brandon Marsh struck out three times in his first three plate appearances, once looking, but saw a positive result in the eighth inning with a single off Kodai Senga.

Sánchez turned in 6 1/3 innings to reach 200 on the season for the second time in his career. The lefty threw his changeup less than normal for him — just 26% of the time, compared to his season average of 37% — but was able to fill the strike zone with his fastball. Three of his six total strikeouts came on his slider.

Bichette spoiled the shutout in the sixth inning with his 17th homer of the year. Sánchez had him in an 0-2 count, but Bichette fouled off six straight pitches until he got a slider over the plate.