Jesus Luzardo retires 22 straight as Phillies sweep Mets

Jesus Luzardo retired 22 straight batters after a rough first inning and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 6-4 win to sweep the visiting New York Mets on Thursday.

Otto Kemp homered and drove in three runs for Philadelphia (87-60), which punctuated a four-game sweep, lowering its magic number to five to clinch the National League East. Meanwhile, the Mets (76-71) have lost six in a row and hold just a 1 1/2-game lead over the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds for the third and final NL wild-card spot.

Luzardo (14-6) struck out 10 and did not walk a batter over eight innings. He allowed four runs and five hits — all in the first inning — before giving way to Jhoan Duran, who authored a dominant ninth for his 29th save, striking out Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos.

Starter David Peterson allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings for the Mets, with eight strikeouts and one walk. Starling Marte recorded a two-run double to cap a four-run first after back-to-back RBI singles by Vientos and Brandon Nimmo, but that was it for New York’s offense.

Luzardo struck out a batter in both the second and third and two more in the fourth. He needed only seven pitches to get through the fifth and just nine more to get through the sixth.

He struck out two in the seventh and two more in the eighth, including Francisco Lindor to end the frame before walking off the field to a standing ovation.

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Meanwhile, the Philadelphia offense was quiet through the first three innings until Kemp delivered a two-run homer to center against Peterson in the fourth. Bryce Harper added an RBI double in the fifth as the hosts crept within 4-3.

After Peterson exited, the Phillies scored three runs in the sixth against the New York bullpen.

Nick Castellanos and Kemp recorded back-to-back doubles to tie the score. With two outs, Harrison Bader sent a single up the middle to give Philadelphia a 5-4 lead.

Reed Garrett (3-6) gave way to Brooks Raley, who walked Kyle Schwarber and gave up an RBI infield hit to Harper.