Quinn Exits with Injury as Phillies Blank Mets, Salvage Finale

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

Having lost the first two games of the series against the New York Mets (13-11), outscored 14-to-1, the Philadelphia Phillies (13-11) turned to RHP Vince Velasquez with hopes of salvaging the finale and snapping his club's three-game losing streak Wednesday evening at Citi Field.

Velasquez did not disappoint, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and three walks while punching out six batters spanning 97 pitches and 53 strikes (11 swinging).

The Phillies doubled their run output of the series early on in the first, as catcher J.T. Realmuto and right fielder Bryce Harper hit back-to-back doubles, with Harper's being a RBI hit.

Over the next six innings, the Phillies would have just four more batters reach base via either a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch. The club extended their lead to 4-0 in the eighth against Mets reliever Robert Gsellman, rallying together three runs on four singles, a triple and a wild pitch. Maikel Franco and Phil Gosselin singled home their 19th and fourth RBIs, respectively, while Roman Quinn brought home Cesar Hernandez on a bunt single to current Mets and Phillies catcher, Wilson Ramos.

The RBI bunt single was just Quinn's third hit in 25 at-bats since he returned from the injured list (oblique), where he appears likely to return. Two batters later, Quinn left the game with an apparent injury while on second base; Aaron Altherr ran for him and finished the game in center field. After the game, it was announced Quinn exited with a right groin strain, according to The Athletic's Matt Gelb. He will be examined further on Thursday.

In the ninth, Rhys Hoskins took Mets RHP Jacob Rhame deep, a two-run blast to raise his season total to seven. The home run was nice "payback," or "sweet revenge," for Hoskins, who in Tuesday night's game had two fastballs thrown near his head by Rhame that caused dugouts and bullpens to empty.


According to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, Hoskins' home run trot took 34.23 seconds, the "longest in MLB this season and the first over 30 seconds." Hoskins' previous longest trot was 28.88 seconds. Since his MLB debut on August 10, 2017, Hoskins leads all NL players with 59 homers, notes MLB Stats.

Pat Neshek, Seranthony Dominguez, Adam Morgan and Juan Nicasio combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief of Velasquez, allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out three batters. Velasquez improved to 1-0 with a 1.99 season ERA.

The Phillies went 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. They collected 10 hits as opposed to six by the Mets, who also committed three errors in the field to the Phillies' none. Two of the Mets errors were committed by shortstop Amed Rosario (throwing), while the third was by second baseman Robinson Cano (ground ball).

One day after being shut out 9-0 by the Mets, the Phillies blanked their division rival, 6-0, to create a tie between the two clubs for first place in the National League East. The Phillies will now return back to Citizens Bank Park for a nine-game homestand against the Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals.

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