Mets push Phillies to the brink of elimination with 7-2 victory in Game 3 of the NLDS

NEW YORK — Nick Castellanos took five steps out of the batter’s box before sinking down to the ground in disbelief.

As he would put it later: “More just like, ‘[expletive], I can’t believe that happened.’”

He had made hard contact on a changeup from Mets starter Sean Manaea in the sixth inning on Tuesday, lining it 95.7 mph up the middle. But second baseman José Iglesias barely needed to move his feet to make the catch. To make matters worse, Kyle Schwarber was caught a few feet off second base — turning what might have been an RBI single into an inning-ending and momentum-stifling double play.

It had just been one of those nights for the Phillies, at a time of year when they can’t afford those kinds of nights. In a 7-2 loss to the Mets, they had just five hits to fall behind two games to one in the National League Division Series. They will face elimination in Game 4 on Wednesday.

“As a group, this is the closest to death we’re ever going to get,” Castellanos said. “So in a way, we should feel the most alive.”

The Phillies offense made some solid contact against Manaea but struggled to find gaps and failed to muster a single extra-base hit. Across seven innings, they clocked an exit velocity harder than 95 mph nine times, but only two of them fell for singles. Alec Bohm, back in the lineup after not starting Game 2, crushed a ball 107.2 mph to right-center field in the fourth inning. But a perfect throw from Mets center fielder Tyrone Taylor got him out at second as he tried for a double.

“I thought our bats early in the game were OK. We hit three balls early, just didn’t have anything to show for it,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Then as the game rolls along, I think at some point guys are trying to do a little too much.”

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Manaea hit two batters and issued two walks, but the Phillies couldn’t advance a runner past second until the eighth inning. The bottom third of the lineup — Austin Hays, Edmundo Sosa, and Johan Rojas — went a collective 0-for-6 in the first seven innings, which made it difficult for the Phillies to manufacture runs.

The Mets were aggressive at the plate against Phillies starter Aaron Nola, often swinging early in the count. Pete Alonso was the first to hit pay dirt. He turned on the first pitch he saw in the second inning and deposited it in the right-field seats to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead they would not surrender.

Nola left the four-seamer up in the zone, though it was on the outside edge of the plate. But Alonso — who entered Tuesday with a .680 slugging percentage against Nola — had enough power to send it to the opposite field.

Nola got a little revenge against Alonso in the fourth inning by striking him out looking. But another elevated fastball to Jesse Winker two batters later also ended up over the right-field wall, upping the Mets’ lead to 2-0.

Outside of those two mistakes, Nola turned in a strong performance until the sixth inning. Mark Vientos worked an eight-pitch at-bat to lead off and singled to left field, and then Nola issued consecutive walks to Brandon Nimmo and Alonso to load the bases with no outs, ending his night.

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“Besides the two homers and the two walks there in the sixth, which kind of hurt me, I mean, other than that, I felt pretty good,” Nola said.

It was a less-than-ideal situation for a Phillies bullpen that had allowed 10 runs over the first two games of the series. And while Orion Kerkering induced two quick outs and seemed on the verge of escaping the jam, a Starling Marte single plated two more for the Mets to take a 4-0 lead.

The bleeding continued when José Alvarado made his first appearance of the postseason in the seventh. He started off strong, but after giving up a single to Vientos that deflected off his foot, he walked two straight batters. José Ruiz took over and immediately allowed a Jose Iglesias single that scored two inherited runners for a 6-0 Mets lead.

“They’re putting good at-bats against [the bullpen]. I don’t think we’re executing pitches, to tell you the truth,” Thomson said. “I thought Alvarado was good until he got hit in the foot. He said it didn’t bother him, but who knows?”

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A leadoff single from Sosa knocked Manaea out of the game in the eighth, and the Phillies finally ended the shutout. A walk to Schwarber and consecutive singles from Bryce Harper and Castellanos cut the Mets’ lead to 6-2, but it was very much too little, too late. The Mets responded with another run off Carlos Estévez, bringing the bullpen’s total runs allowed to 13 in three games.

“We just got to win tomorrow,” Harper said. “We don’t want to look ahead or do any of that. It’s a really good team over there.”