Mets vs Phillies Live Score, Series Schedule & Game 1 Recap (July 2026)

Quick answer: The Mets vs Phillies series at Citizens Bank Park opened on Thursday night with a 4-1 New York win, powered by two home runs from Francisco Alvarez and 5.2 shutout innings from Christian Scott.

Two games remain in the series: Saturday, July 18 at 4:05 PM ET and Sunday, July 19 at 1:35 PM ET. Follow the Mets vs Phillies live score for both games right here on Pin Live Score, with pitch-by-pitch updates from first pitch.

Coming out of the All-Star break, this NL East rivalry series means very different things to the two clubs. The Phillies (54-44) are locked in a tight division race, sitting second in the NL East just behind the Atlanta Braves (55-40), with the Miami Marlins (52-45) uncomfortably close behind them.

The Mets (41-57) are having a season to forget at the bottom of the division — but as Thursday night proved, a last-place team with Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor in the lineup can still ruin a contender’s evening.

A Rivalry With Fresh Scar Tissue

Mets vs Phillies is one of baseball’s most bitter divisional rivalries, and it carries recent playoff history that Philadelphia has not forgotten. In October 2024, these two met in the NL Division Series with the Phillies heavily favored — and the Mets eliminated them in four games, with Francisco Lindor’s grand slam in the clincher at Citi Field becoming an instant rivalry classic. That series ended a 95-win Phillies season and stung all winter in Philadelphia.

The rivalry runs deeper than one October, of course. These fanbases share a turnpike, two of the loudest ballparks in the National League, and decades of bad blood stretching back through the 2007 and 2008 division races, when the Mets’ September collapses handed Philadelphia the NL East in consecutive seasons. Even in a year where the standings say the teams are far apart, this matchup never plays like a mismatch — and Thursday night’s result was the latest proof.

Mets vs Phillies Game 1 Recap: Mets 4, Phillies 1

Thursday night in Philadelphia belonged to two young Mets: catcher Francisco Alvarez and right-hander Christian Scott.

Alvarez was the story of the night at the plate, launching two home runs in a 2-for-4 performance and driving in two. Third baseman Brett Baty added a solo homer of his own in a 2-for-4 night, and rookie A.J. Ewing chipped in an RBI double.

All three of New York’s home runs came off Phillies ace Aaron Nola, who was otherwise solid — 6 innings, 6 strikeouts — but paid for every mistake he left over the plate. The long ball was the entire difference: New York’s offense hit just .219 as a team but slugged .531.

On the mound, Christian Scott dominated. The Mets starter fired 5.2 scoreless innings on just 79 pitches, allowing only 3 hits while striking out 7.

Philadelphia’s bats simply never arrived — the Phillies managed 4 hits as a team, went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and hit .129 on the night.

The only Phillies highlight came in the eighth, when Trea Turner took Luke Weaver deep for a solo home run to break up the shutout. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber each doubled but were stranded. Devin Williams closed the door with a spotless ninth for the save, and the Mets banked the 4-1 win.

Game 1 box score summary:

• Final: Mets 4, Phillies 1
• Winning pitcher: Christian Scott (5.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 7 K)
• Losing pitcher: Aaron Nola (6 IP, 3 ER, 3 HR allowed)
• Save: Devin Williams
• Home runs: Alvarez x2, Baty (NYM); Turner (PHI)

Inside the Numbers: What Game 1 Really Told Us

Dig one layer past the final score and Thursday’s game gets even more interesting.

All of New York’s damage came from the long ball. The Mets went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position — normally a recipe for a frustrating loss — but it never mattered, because Alvarez and Baty kept clearing the bases with one swing. New York’s .

219 team average against a .531 slugging percentage is about as extreme a power-over-contact profile as a box score can produce. Nola allowed 6 hits in 6 innings; three of them left the ballpark, and that was the game.

Philadelphia’s offense was historically quiet. A .129 team average, 4 hits in 31 at-bats, 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and a .156 on-base percentage against a last-place pitching staff. Mets pitching combined for a 0.56 WHIP on the night — meaning Philadelphia barely put anyone on base for nine innings. For a lineup with Harper, Turner, Schwarber, and Realmuto, that is the kind of stat line that gets talked about in the clubhouse.

The Mets bullpen chain held. After Scott’s 79-pitch gem, Brooks Raley bridged the sixth, Huascar Brazobán threw a clean seventh, and although Luke Weaver surrendered Turner’s eighth-inning homer, Devin Williams needed just 13 pitches to slam the ninth shut. Four relievers, one run, no drama at the end.

Nola’s homer problem picked the worst night to appear. Six strikeouts and only three runs allowed is usually a winning line, but all three runs came on solo and two-run shots. Against a team that couldn’t cash in baserunners, keeping the ball in the park was the entire assignment — and it went wrong three times.

Mets vs Phillies Series Schedule: What’s Left

Two more games remain in this weekend set at Citizens Bank Park:

• Game 2: Saturday, July 18 — 4:05 PM ET (1:05 AM PKT, Sunday)
• Game 3: Sunday, July 19 — 1:35 PM ET (10:35 PM PKT, Sunday)

Both games will be covered live on Pin Live Score, with the Mets vs Phillies live score updated in real time — every run, hit, home run, and pitching change as it happens.

One quirk of the weekend for neutral sports fans: Sunday’s series finale finishes just before the FIFA World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina kicks off in New York at 3:00 PM ET. Philadelphia sports bars are going to be busy.

What This Series Means for the NL East Race

Here is how the NL East looks as of July 17, and why this weekend matters up and down the division:

• Atlanta Braves — 55-40, 1st: The division leaders, and every Phillies stumble widens their cushion.
• Philadelphia Phillies — 54-44, 2nd: Right in the fight, but with no margin for dropping home games to last-place teams.
• Miami Marlins — 52-45, 3rd: The surprise of the division, lurking just two games behind Philadelphia and very much in the wild card picture.
• Washington Nationals — 48-49, 4th: Hovering around .500 and dangerous as spoilers.
• New York Mets — 41-57, 5th: A lost season in the standings, but a lineup that can still swing games — as Thursday showed.

For the Phillies, every game in this series is about keeping pace. They trail Atlanta by a game and a half in the loss column, and with Miami surging behind them, dropping a home series to the last-place Mets is exactly the kind of result that tightens a division race the wrong way.

Their offense going 4-for-31 against a struggling opponent on Thursday will worry them far more than the loss itself. There is also the wild card math: in a National League where the Dodgers (61-36) and Brewers (59-37) have pulled away, the difference between winning the East and settling for a wild card spot could decide whether October starts at home or on the road.

For the Mets, at 41-57, the season is about pride, evaluation, and the future. Nights like Thursday show why they keep watching: Alvarez and Baty going deep, Scott looking like a frontline starter, and a bullpen finishing the job.

If New York takes this series in Philadelphia, it will be the loudest statement of an otherwise quiet season — and a genuine dent in a rival’s playoff push. There is also a rebuild subplot in every box score: the more games young players like Alvarez, Baty, Ewing, and Benge win against contenders, the clearer the front office’s picture of next year becomes.

Key Players to Watch This Weekend

Francisco Alvarez (Mets): Two home runs in the opener and swinging with total confidence. Philadelphia’s pitchers will have to adjust their plan against him immediately.

Christian Scott (Mets): His Game 1 gem lowers the pressure on everyone who follows. He won’t pitch again this series, but his outing set the tone.

Trea Turner (Phillies): The only Phillie who solved Mets pitching on Thursday. Expect him to be the engine if Philadelphia’s offense wakes up.

Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber (Phillies): Both doubled in Game 1 but were left stranded. When these two start scoring instead of just reaching base, this lineup turns dangerous fast.

Juan Soto (Mets): Quiet-ish opener by his standards (1-for-4 with two walks), which usually means a loud game is coming.

The Citizens Bank Park Factor

Venue matters in this series. Citizens Bank Park is famously friendly to power hitters — the kind of ballpark where fly balls that die on the warning track elsewhere end up in the seats. Thursday proved the point in the visitors’ favor: four home runs left the yard, three of them by New York.

That cuts both ways for the weekend. Philadelphia’s lineup is built for this park, with Schwarber and Harper capable of changing a game in one at-bat, and the home crowd in South Philly is one of the loudest and most hostile environments in baseball when the Phillies get rolling. If the home offense wakes up in Game 2, the same short porches that helped Alvarez on Thursday will start working for the men in red pinstripes.

Mets vs Phillies Game Times Around the World

• Game 2 — Saturday, July 18: 4:05 PM ET / 1:05 PM PT / 9:05 PM UK / 1:05 AM Sunday Pakistan / 1:35 AM Sunday India
• Game 3 — Sunday, July 19: 1:35 PM ET / 10:35 AM PT / 6:35 PM UK / 10:35 PM Pakistan / 11:05 PM India

Both games will be broadcast on the teams’ regional networks in the US, with out-of-market fans able to watch via MLB’s streaming service. And wherever you are, the Mets vs Phillies live score will be running ball-by-ball on this page from first pitch.

Mets vs Phillies Prediction for the Rest of the Series

On paper, the Phillies should win both remaining games: they are the better team, they are at home, and their season depends on beating the teams below them. But Game 1 exposed the one thing that can flatten any contender — an offense that goes cold with runners on base.
Our call: the Phillies bounce back to take Game 2 behind a fired-up home crowd, and Sunday’s finale becomes a genuine coin flip with the series on the line. If the Mets’ young bats keep running into fastballs, a road series win is absolutely live.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the score of the last Mets vs Phillies game?

The Mets beat the Phillies 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, July 16, 2026, behind two home runs from Francisco Alvarez and 5.2 scoreless innings from starter Christian Scott. Trea Turner’s late solo homer accounted for Philadelphia’s only run.

When is the next Mets vs Phillies game?

Game 2 of the series is Saturday, July 18 at 4:05 PM ET, followed by the series finale on Sunday, July 19 at 1:35 PM ET. Both games are at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and the live score for both will be updated here on Pin Live Score.

Where are the Mets and Phillies in the standings?

As of July 17, the Phillies are 54-44, second in the NL East behind the Braves (55-40), with the Marlins (52-45) close behind. The Mets are 41-57, fifth in the division.

Who hit home runs in the Mets vs Phillies game?

Francisco Alvarez hit two home runs and Brett Baty added one for the Mets — all three off Aaron Nola. Trea Turner homered for the Phillies in the eighth inning.

What happened the last time the Mets and Phillies met in the playoffs?

In the 2024 NL Division Series, the Mets upset the Phillies three games to one, with Francisco Lindor’s grand slam sealing the clinching win. That result remains the freshest playoff chapter in the rivalry and part of why these games carry extra edge regardless of the standings.

Can the Phillies still win the NL East?

Absolutely. At 54-44 they trail Atlanta (55-40) by just a game and a half in the loss column with more than two months to play. Series like this one against the Mets are exactly the games a contender must bank — which is why Thursday’s 4-1 home loss stings more than a typical mid-July defeat.

The Bottom Line

The Mets vs Phillies series is set up perfectly for the weekend: a contender under pressure at home, a last-place team playing loose with nothing to lose, and two games left to decide it. Bookmark this page for the Mets vs Phillies live score on Saturday and Sunday — and if Thursday was any preview, don’t step away when the young Mets bats are up.