PHILADELPHIA — Francisco Alvarez homered twice, Brett Baty also went deep and the New York Mets defeated the Phillies 4-1 on Thursday night in the first major league game following the All-Star break.
The game started at 6:10 p.m. ET instead of 7:10, and the teams played under a hazy sky with diminishing air quality because of smoke that moved into the region from wildfires burning in Canada and Minnesota.
“It’s definitely different,” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said during the ESPN telecast while wearing a microphone on the field during the top of the second inning. “They don’t really move games too much. But not the greatest idea, I guess, to come out here and play in this type of weather, but you know, we’re doing it.”
It was the second time wildfire smoke has affected a game in Philadelphia. In June 2023, a game between Detroit and Philadelphia was postponed because of poor air quality related to smoke from Canadian wildfires.
After his team’s victory, Mets interim manager Andy Green was asked how the conditions affected the game.
“I don’t think they really did,” Green said. “I think it felt like they could have at any moment, especially as visibility got tougher. But, guys managed to see baseballs that I couldn’t when they went up in the air as popups. So, good thing we’ve got good athletes on the field that can see things.”
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said tracking fly balls later in the game seemed to become an issue.
“It didn’t seem to be a huge problem,” Mattingly said. “The vision, later on, was a little bit like foggy conditions more than the air quality. As far as the guys were concerned [visibility] seemed to be the problem.”
New York slugger Juan Soto was removed in the eighth because of left calf soreness, but Green said the All-Star outfielder is expected to be back in the lineup this weekend. Soto missed about 2½ weeks in April with a right calf strain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
