Mets No-Hitter: Harper Offers No Excuses, Says Phillies ‘Didn't Show Up'

Bryce Harper offers no excuses after no-no, says lineup 'Didn't show up' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The crowd at Citi Field was 32,416, but it sounded a lot bigger than that in the ninth inning as Edwin Diaz struck out the heart of the Phillies' batting order, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto, to end it.

Let's go Mets! ... Let's go Mets! ... Let's go Mets!

A moment later, Ace Frehley's Back in the New York Groove blared over the loudspeakers.

The calendar said it was a Friday night in April, too early in the season for a really big game. But the atmosphere was every bit that of a big game because of what five New York Mets pitchers did to the Phillies' expensive bat rack.

The Phillies were no-hit for the 20th time in franchise history in a 3-0 loss.

Five Mets pitchers struck out 12.

But they also walked six.

The missed chances left the Phillies pointing the finger at themselves. They got a solid start from Aaron Nola -- six innings, three runs -- but did not support him.

"Whenever you have guys on base, you have to cash in as much as possible and have good at-bats," Harper said. "I thought we put some good at-bats on guys and got deep into counts on some guys, as well. Sometimes that's going to happen and it's part of the game. But that's no excuse to not get guys in or get on base.

"We just didn't get it done. So sometimes that's going to happen, sometimes your lineup just doesn't show up and we didn't show up today and that can't happen, of course."

The Phillies had plenty of deep at-bats. They saw 159 pitches. But one day after completing a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in which they had 36 hits and scored 32 runs in the four games, the Phils got nothing.

No runs.

No hits.

"It's baseball, right," Castellanos said. "We really didn't chase that much out of the zone. We got to a lot of three-ball counts. I got to two of them. But we couldn't find a way to scratch any hits or runs across."

Mets starter Tylor Megill set the tone with five no-hit innings. The Phils had one good chance against the power-armed right-hander. He issued two walks in the fifth but pitched out of trouble by striking out Odubel Herrera on three pitches to end the threat.

"He has good ride on his fastball," Castellanos said. "This is the first time that I'm in this division so I'm still learning a lot of these guys. And one thing that's obvious right away is that everybody in this division throws gas."

After Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Diaz finished off the Phillies.

Jean Segura had one of the Phillies' few hard-hit balls, a lineout to center field that came off the bat at 104.5 mph.

"It's part of the game," Segura said. "These guys, they beat us today. We just couldn't get one hit. Sometimes it's not going your way. That's baseball."

As deflating as it was to watch his team get no-hit, manager Joe Girardi was able to keep it in perspective.

"Well, the great thing is it only counts as one loss, right?" Girardi said. "I've seen a lot of them. It's a real exciting time at the moment, but it's still one game.

"Four out of five isn't bad."

The Phillies are 10-11.

Less than a month in, the Mets' season already has a special feel to it. They have the best record in the majors at 15-6.

But it's a long season. The Mets led the NL East for 114 days last season and did not make the playoffs.

The series continues Saturday night. Kyle Gibson opposes Taijuan Walker.

"We have to go out there and play our best baseball," Harper said. "We got two more games here. We have to go out there and grind the best we can against a good team over there."

And what's the best way to bounce back from a no-hitter and the sound of 32,416 Mets fans ringing in your ears?

"Forget it," Castellanos said. "That's the best way to bounce back. What are you going to learn from getting no-hit? You just forget it. Short-term memory. Have a good dinner, enjoy the night in New York City, get ready to play tomorrow."