If you searched for Mets vs Phillies match player stats, you probably want three things. Who hit well, who pitched well, and when the game turned. This guide covers all of that for the final home series of the Mets’ 2026 season at Citi Field, played September 17 to 20. It also explains how to read the numbers, so the next box score you open makes more sense.
The Quick Answer
The four-game series ended in a split. The Phillies salvaged a split of the four-game series, taking the first and last games. The Mets won the middle two, 6–3 on September 18 and 10–3 on September 19. The top performers were Carson Benge for the Mets on Saturday and Cristopher Sánchez for the Phillies on Sunday. Benge set a team rookie record, and Sánchez picked up his 18th win of the year.
Why These Games Mattered
The two teams came in with very different goals. The Phillies were 85-70 and tied with the Cubs and Padres for the three NL wild-card spots before the Saturday game. The Mets were 71-84 and out of the race. So Philadelphia was fighting for a playoff spot, while New York had nothing to lose and a chance to spoil a rival’s season.
That gap made the games more interesting. Every Mets win helped teams like the Padres, who were chasing the same wild-card spots as Philadelphia. One report said the Mets’ Saturday win gave the Padres some help in the playoff race.
Saturday, September 19: Mets 10, Phillies 3
The Saturday game is where most of the big stats came from. The Phillies led for a short time, but the Mets scored nine unanswered runs over the last four innings and pulled away.
How the game unfolded
Benge started the scoring in the second inning. His 19th home run of the year came on a two-strike changeup that he drove over the right-field wall. The ball traveled about 370 feet. The Phillies tied it in the fourth when Bryce Harper doubled and Alec Bohm singled him home.
The fifth inning was the busiest. Philadelphia went ahead 3–1 on a Harper sacrifice fly and a Bohm single, which also ended the day for Mets starter Christian Scott. But the Mets answered right away. Francisco Alvarez’s three-run homer off Andrew Painter put the Mets ahead for good in the fifth. Alvarez had been in a rough patch, with just one hit in his previous ten at-bats, so the swing came at a good time. He finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio each drove in a run in the sixth, which made it 6–3. The game was still within reach for the Phillies until the eighth, when the Mets added four more runs off reliever Orion Kerkering. Lindor, Soto and Bichette all had RBIs before Benge’s milestone hit.
The Mets hitters
Benge was the star. He finished with three hits, including the home run, and raised his season total to 156. That passed Pete Alonso’s old Mets rookie record. As the MLB.com report noted, he passed Alonso’s mark of 155.
What I like about Benge’s day is how different his hits were. He hit a long home run, a broken-bat bloop, and a soft ground ball down the third-base line. Benge said afterward that you get hits all sorts of different ways, and he laughed about the record-breaking hit being a check-swing bouncer. The record books do not care how the ball got there.
Alvarez was the other big bat, with his three-run homer. Beyond those two, the Mets spread the work around. Baty, Mauricio, Lindor, Soto and Bichette all drove in runs. That depth is a big reason the Mets scored ten.
The Phillies hitters
Philadelphia had some good moments too. Alec Bohm had a pair of run-scoring singles and Harper delivered a sacrifice fly. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner also got on base in the fifth. The problem was finishing the job. The Phillies had traffic on the bases for much of the day but could not turn it into enough runs. By the end, the Mets bullpen had done the quiet work that decided the game. Five Mets relievers gave up just three hits over 4 1/3 innings.
The pitchers
Christian Scott did not get a decision, and his day ended in the fifth. Jefry Yan came in to finish that inning and was the one who picked up the win, because the Mets took the lead right after he got out of the jam.
For Philadelphia, Andrew Painter took the loss. He allowed four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings, and his ERA stood at 5.59. Seven strikeouts is a good number, so his stuff was fine. The two home runs were the problem. Kerkering had the worst of the day for the Phillies. He has given up nine runs in 4 1/3 innings over four appearances this month, and the eighth inning added to that.
There is one fun side note. Painter and Scott both attended Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, so two former high school teammates faced each other in a major league game.
Sunday, September 20: Phillies 7, Mets 2
The finale was a different kind of game. It was a pitcher’s day, and it belonged to Cristopher Sánchez.
Sánchez controlled the game
Sánchez gave up six hits, including Bo Bichette’s sixth-inning homer, and struck out six over 6 1/3 innings. The win was his 18th of the season, which put him alone at the top of the majors. That is a rare spot for a Phillies pitcher. The last Phillies pitcher to lead the majors in wins was Steve Carlton, with 23 in 1982.
The Mets barely touched him until the sixth. He carried a shutout into that inning and had retired nine batters in a row before Bichette’s homer. When you read a box score, a line like six hits and six strikeouts can look ordinary. The nine straight outs in the middle of the game are what tell you how comfortable he was.
The Phillies bats
Luis Arraez had a quiet but useful day. He went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, and one of those came on a sacrifice fly early in the game. The biggest swing came late. Justin Crawford hit a bases-clearing triple off Kodai Senga in the eighth. That turned a game the Phillies were winning into a game that was safely over.
The Mets side
Jonah Tong took the loss. The rookie gave up four runs and struck out five in 4 2/3 innings, and he also walked four. Those walks hurt, because free base runners often turn into runs. Bichette’s home run in the sixth was the best moment for New York, and Brett Baty added a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh. The offense never really got going.
The day also carried some sadness for Mets fans. A ceremony for retiring Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose was postponed because of the rainy forecast, even though the game itself started on time. The Mets also ended the year with a rough home record. They finished 36-45 at Citi Field, their worst home mark since 2013.
Who Was the Top Player of the Series
If I had to pick one name from the Mets vs Phillies match player stats, it would be Carson Benge. He hit a home run, collected a team record, and kept showing up in big moments. His season totals were also strong for a first-year player. He had 19 homers, three triples, 19 doubles, 115 singles and 22 stolen bases at that point, which shows he can hurt a team in more than one way.
For the Phillies, Sánchez is the clear choice. He gave his team length, calm and a win in a game they badly needed. Crawford deserves a mention as the runner-up, since one swing ended any hope of a Mets comeback. On Saturday, Alvarez gets the second spot, because his homer changed the whole direction of the game.
How to Read Player Stats Like a Pro
Many fans just look at hits and runs, but a few other numbers tell a better story. Start with RBIs and compare them to hits. A player with one hit and three RBIs came through with runners on base, like Alvarez did on Saturday. Then look at walks and strikeouts together. Schwarber and Turner may not show up in the home run column, but getting on base sets up the next hitter.
For pitchers, innings pitched and earned runs matter most. A starter who goes six or more innings saves the bullpen, and a low earned run total tells you the pitcher did his own job well. Keep in mind that one bad inning can hide a good day, as it did for Painter. One more tip: check how many runners each team left on base. A team that strands a lot of runners usually feels like it should have won. You can see full play-by-play and box scores on the ESPN game page.
Understanding the Advanced Stats on Baseball Savant
If you want to go deeper than a normal box score, Baseball Savant is the place. It runs a game feed with Statcast data, and it explains its own terms well. The page I checked for this article loads its numbers live, so I am not quoting specific figures from it here. What I can do is explain what the main stats mean, using Savant’s own definitions.
Exit velocity is how fast, in miles per hour, the batter hit the ball. Statcast calls a ball “hard hit” when it comes off the bat at 95 mph or faster. Launch angle is how high or low the ball goes off the bat. A barrel is a ball hit with the best mix of speed and angle, which is why barrels so often become home runs or extra-base hits.
Savant also tracks bat speed. A swing counts as a fast swing when it reaches 75 mph or more. And it has fun terms like a sword, which is its name for an ugly, non-competitive swing that a pitcher forces. Expected batting average, or xBA, tells you how likely a batted ball was to be a hit, based on how it was hit. That helps you tell the difference between a lucky single and a ball that was crushed right at someone.
The game feed also marks automatic ball-strike challenges. These are the new system calls where a hitter or catcher can ask for a close pitch to be checked. A successful challenge means the call was overturned.
What the Results Meant for the Standings
For Philadelphia, the split was better than a loss but not what they hoped for. The Phillies were 86-70 after the finale, four and a half games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the race for the final wild card. They were also only a game behind the Cubs and Padres, who held the top wild-card spots. The Phillies had been struggling that month, with a record of 8–11 in September before Sunday.
For the Mets, the season was already lost, so the story was about individuals. Benge’s record, Alvarez’s power and Bichette’s homer gave fans something to cheer. One report said the Phillies and Mets met for the 13th time that day, with the season series at 6–6 going in. If that count is right, Philadelphia’s win gave them a narrow 7–6 edge.
Final Thoughts
The Mets vs Phillies match player stats from this series tell two clear stories. Saturday was about hitting, with Benge setting a record and Alvarez swinging the game. Sunday was about pitching, with Sánchez shutting down the Mets and Crawford adding the finishing blow. Both games are good examples of why it helps to look beyond the final score. The inning-by-inning story, the runners left on base and the late relief work all matter.
If you want to track the next meeting between these two teams, open the box score after the game, check the pitching lines first, and then look at who drove in the runs. You will usually find the whole story in just a few numbers.
