Mets Rally Past Phillies in Extra Innings; NL East Race Is On

FLUSHING, N.Y. — Francisco Lindor slapped a two-out double down the left-field line in the bottom of the eleventh inning Tuesday night, and Citi Field erupted. The New York Mets had rallied from four runs down to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 7–6 in a game that took four hours and twenty-three minutes and pushed the NL East race into new territory.

The Mets trailed 6–2 heading into the seventh inning after starter Kodai Senga gave up three consecutive home runs in a disastrous fifth. What followed was a sequence that Mets fans will be recounting through September: a three-run seventh keyed by a Pete Alonso grand slam, a solo shot by Jeff McNeil in the eighth to tie the game, and three more innings of tension before Lindor ended it.

“When you see Petey do that, it changes the whole game,” Lindor said in the clubhouse afterward, still in his uniform. “The crowd gets into it, we get into it. Everything changes.” Alonso, who has been inconsistent for stretches this season, looked fully locked in for the first time in weeks, finishing 3-for-4 with the grand slam and two singles.

The victory moved the Mets to within two games of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East standings with 51 games remaining. While not the position most analysts expected after a rocky start to the season, the Mets have gone 31–19 since late May, the third-best record in the National League during that stretch.

Manager Carlos Mendoza credited the team’s bench and bullpen depth, both of which were tested in the extra-inning affair. Reliever David Peterson threw two scoreless innings, and utility infielder Luis Guillorme delivered a pinch-hit single in the ninth that kept the rally alive.

The Mets and Phillies meet again Thursday and Friday before New York hosts the Atlanta Braves for a weekend series. With the second wild card also in reach, the Mets are looking at a September schedule that could define the team’s postseason fate.