The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Mets by a 7-2 final on Saturday afternoon (box score) to begin the 2024 London Series. The two squads will meet again at London Stadium, home of the English Premier League’s West Ham United, on Sunday morning before returning home.
The Phillies fell behind the Mets early on, but rallied for a six-run fourth inning that ended up making the difference. Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and Whit Merrifield supplied the game’s three home runs. Merrifield’s blast, of the three-run variety, served as the game’s biggest hit.
Below, we here at CBS Sports have covered five other things to know about the Phillies’ win, as well as the 2024 London Series in general.
1. Phillies prevail in battle of winning streaks
Although the Mets entered Saturday trailing the Phillies by 16 1/2 games in the National League East, both teams had generated some recent momentum by winning their last three games in a row.
For the Phillies, that three-game stretch was a continuation of the winning ways they’ve enjoyed all season, en route to the best record in Major League Baseball. Indeed, the Phillies were a National League-best 22-8 over their last 30 games entering Saturday. Conversely, the Mets’ three-game winning streak helped improve their 11-19 mark over their last 30 contests, tied for the third worst stretch in the majors over that time. (You can read more about the Mets’ horrible May here.)
Of course, only one of the two teams could improve their winning streak to four games on Saturday. Now, the Phillies will attempt to stretch it to five come Sunday.
2. Lowest scoring London Series game to date
This series marks the third time MLB has hosted games in London: the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox played there in 2019, and the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals did the same in 2023. Believe it or not, Saturday’s game now owns the distinction of being the lowest-scoring game in London Series history, as well as the first time the teams combined for single-digit runs.
Previously, the lowest-scoring game had belonged to the Cubs and Cardinals, who tallied 10 runs last June 24. At the risk of stating the obvious, the London Series games are generally high-scoring in nature. To wit, at least 12 runs have been scored in each of the three other contests.
3. Suárez reaches 10 wins, shows few ill effects of hand injury
You can credit the above tidbit to Phillies lefty Ranger Suárez, who fell an out shy of recording a quality start. Suárez held the Mets to two runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out six of the 27 batters he faced on the afternoon while showing roughly his usual velocity, according to Statcast, and earning his 10th win of the year.
While it wasn’t Suárez’s best performance of the year — to be fair, he entered the game with a 1.70 ERA on the season — it was reassuring all the same. That’s because Suárez departed his last start, against the St. Louis Cardinals a week ago, after taking a batted ball to the hand. The Phillies have to be pleased that he was able to weather swelling in that hand without missing a start.
4. Harper broke out soccer celebration amid big day
We mentioned in the introduction that Bryce Harper hit a home run. He also singled and doubled as part of a three-hit effort that saw him break out a soccer goal-style celebration that he claimed he had been planning for years.
You can read more about Harper’s afternoon and exploits here.
5. London Series concludes on Sunday
The Phillies and Mets will wrap up the 2024 London Series on Sunday morning before returning to the United States to resume their normal schedules. Phillies righty Taijuan Walker is slated to oppose Mets lefty Jose Quintana. First pitch is scheduled for just after 10 A.M. ET.
