PHILADELPHIA – Seven stellar innings by Zack Wheeler were quickly undone by the Phillies bullpen's one dreadful frame.

Hardly hitting for all nine innings was equally responsible for the Phillies' demise on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.

The Mets came alive in the eighth inning, batting around and scoring the first five runs that eventually made them 6-2 winners in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

A stunned and disappointed sellout crowd of 45,751 bore witness to the home team's calamity, which now includes three straight postseason defeats.

"It's a tough loss," Wheeler said afterward. "Any loss in the playoffs is tough but we gotta come back out here tomorrow and try to win the game. … We've got the guys in the room to do it."

Game 2 of the best-of-5 series is at 4 p.m. here Sunday. Cristopher Sanchez pitches for the Phillies and Luke Severino for New York.

8th inning a disaster for Phillies

Starter Wheeler allowed just one hit, walked four, hit a batter and struck out nine though seven. He threw 111 pitches while continuing his postseason mastery. Wheeler tied Cole Hamels' Phillies record for postseason strikeouts (77).

"Wheeler was unbelievable," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "We haven't seen that type of velocity out of him for awhile. That was as good as it gets."

The 30 swings and misses Wheeler recorded were the most by a Phillies pitcher in any game since such pitches have been tracked beginning in 2008.

"Felt good. Felt locked in," he said.

But the bullpen couldn't have been less effective.

The Mets tied Game 1 in the eighth inning 1-1 against Jeff Hoffman. He was greeted by Francisco Alvarez's single, walked Francisco Lindor after having an 0-2 count and served up Mark Vientos' RBI single.

Hoffman was replaced by Matt Strahm, who promptly gave up Brandon Nimmo's RBI single that inched New York ahead 2-1. Pete Alonso's sacrifice fly then scored Vientos to make it 3-1 before Jose Iglesias singled.

In came Orion Kerkering, and J.D. Martinez smacked an RBI single and Starling Marte a sacrifice fly to increase New York's lead to 5-1 before the rally was finally subdued.

"It was stunning, it was, to see Hoffy and Strahm give it up like that," Thomson said, "but that's baseball sometimes. They haven't given it up like that since we've had them."

Thomson didn't feel not playing since last Sunday undermined those pitchers. The Mets were playing their sixth game since then and may have been in a better groove.

Bryce Harper's double and Nick Castellanos' single with two outs in the eighth were just the Phillies' third and fourth hits, but didn't lead to any runs. Kody Clemens' double in the ninth scored J.T. Realmuto but was no consolation.

"There was some chase in there tonight for sure," Thomson said. "We gotta get back in the zone and start using the field; that's what we talk about all the time."

Harper concurred, referring to the Phillies “chasing balls in the dirt. We didn’t work deep in the count like we should have."

Schwarber lead-off homer starts it

That didn't take long. Greetings, Mets!

Kyle Schwarber led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run to right field, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead over the Mets and raising the decibels to almost deafening levels at Citizens Bank Park. It was his MLB record fifth postseason lead-off dinger.

The crowd roared with equal delight with Wheeler retiring all three Mets he faced in the top of the inning, striking out the last two while throwing in the upper 90s.

As the Phillies came up to start their half of third inning, David Peterson came on to pitch for New York in place of starter Kodai Senga.

There was some trouble for Wheeler in the fourth inning, which began with Vientos' single and Nimmo's walk. But Alonso looked at a called third strike, with which he disagreed, and Iglesias bounced into a double play.

Reed Garrett replaced Peterson in the sixth for the Mets, with Schwarber's homer and third-inning single the only Phillies hits until the eighth inning.

Wheeler ready as ever

Wheeler has a 2.42 ERA in 11 postseason games the last two years. He also has just a 4-3 record that shows, despite the Phillies’ faith in their ace, they have to hit the baseball better.

Wheeler enjoyed his winningest year (16-7) and posted the lowest ERA (2.57) is his 10 big-league seasons, the first five spent with the Mets. He had 1.89 ERA in his last 11 starts and continued his excellence Saturday.

Catcher J.T. Realmuto said Wheeler’s competitive drive makes him even better in October.

“I just think there's a little more intensity in him when it comes to the postseason," Realmuto said, "and that's saying a lot for somebody who's clearly intense all season long.”

Senga gets start for Mets

The Mets surprised many by giving Kodai Senga the Game 1 start. It was just his second appearance all season due to injuries, the other coming July 26. But he comes in with a 2.99 career ERA thanks to a strong 2023 rookie season, when he struck out 202 in 166⅓ innings.

Walker not on postseason roster

Pitcher Taijuan Walker was the obvious but not unexpected absence as the Phillies announced their NLDS roster Saturday morning.

Walker has been a very expensive flop, going 3-7 with a 7.10 in 19 games (15 starts) this year. He’s in his second season with the Phillies after signing a four-year, $72 million deal before the 2023 season.

The 26-man roster features, 12 pitchers, including six left-handers and six right-handers:

Pitchers (12): Left-handers – Kolby Allard, José Alvarado, Tanner Banks, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm and Ranger Suárez. Right-handers – Carlos Estévez, Jeff Hoffman, Orion Kerkering, Aaron Nola, José Ruiz and Zack Wheeler.

Allard was chosen, Thomson said, if there is a need for long relief.

Catchers (2): J.T. Realmuto and Garrett Stubbs.

Infielders (7): Alec Bohm, Kody Clemens, Bryce Harper, Edmundo Sosa, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and Weston Wilson.

Outfielders (4): Nick Castellanos, Austin Hays, Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas.

Designated Hitter (1): Kyle Schwarber.

Harper: Break was beneficial

Harper said before the game that he and the Phillies benefitted from not having a game this week and didn't expect the idle period, in which the Phillies practiced and had intra-squad competition, to undermine them though it appeared it possibly did.

"I think a lot of us really needed that week to kinda recover a little bit and get going," said Harper, who has had a sore elbow. "I feel good mentally. I feel good physically. Excited to get going."

Thomson's lineup defense-oriented

In explaining why he went with Johan Rojas in center field and Brandon Marsh in left in Game 1, Thomson said this: “Today, because it’s 4 o’clock [when the game starts], there’s gonna be some shadows early. So there’s the potential it’s gonna be tough to score some runs. So I want the best defense available.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Philadelphia Phillies vs NY Mets: NLDS Game 1 score, news, analysis