LONDON — Sean Manaea was starting to make it look easy, and then all hell broke loose.
The Mets left-hander surrendered a solo homer to Bryce Harper in the fourth inning Saturday that was the start of the Phillies scoring six runs and knocking Manaea out of the game before the frame was complete.
Manaea allowed just one base runner through the first 3 ¹/₃ innings and was starting to become efficient, getting fast outs before Harper unloaded a bomb to right field.
“It was all just a blur, but it went from there,” Manaea said following the Mets’ 7-2 loss at London Stadium.
It was a second straight clunker from Manea, who surrendered six runs (five of which were earned) over 5 ²/₃ innings against the Diamondbacks the previous Saturday.
On this day, Alec Bohm singled following Harper’s blast and Bryson Stott drew a two-out walk after Manaea got ahead 0-2 in the count before Starling Marte lost Edmundo Sosa’s fly to right for a single that extended the inning.
Whit Merrifield’s ensuing three-run homer buried Manaea and the Mets.
“Stuff happens and I didn’t do a good job of reeling it back in,” Manaea said.
“They are a very good team and definitely no breathing room and they have guys that make you work and then, if you make any kind of mistake, they put good swings on it. A very tough lineup.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza tried to get Manaea through the inning, but that decision backfired as Cristian Pache doubled and Kyle Schwarber delivered an RBI single.
Mendoza finally summoned Sean Reid-Foley, who retired J.T. Realmuto, the 10th batter who came to the plate in the inning.
“[Manaea] was really good the first three innings,” Mendoza said. “Especially with the fastball, live and staying on the attack and pounding the zone. And then in that [fourth] inning he hung that pitch to Harper, but the 0-2 and then he ends up walking Stott was, for me, the at-bat there. He couldn’t finish it.”
