PHILADELPHIA — The Mets, in a sense, completed a perfect circle in their four games this week against the Phillies.
There was an Edwin Diaz blown save at the beginning of the set and another one at the end, but the difference on Thursday was the Mets had an extra-inning rally awaiting to propel them from the dumpster.
J.D. Martinez delivered a go-ahead base hit, and Jose Alvarado’s wild pitch later helped send the Mets to a 6-5 victory over the Phillies in 11 innings at Citizens Bank Park.
The Mets ended a three-game skid, a night after manager Carlos Mendoza addressed the team following sloppy play.
After Diaz buckled for his third blown save of the season, Jorge Lopez pitched a scoreless 10th and Jake Diekman navigated through the 11th, allowing one run.
Diekman struck out Kyle Schwarber to end it with the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
“It’s a big win for us for a lot of reasons — obviously, that checkmark — but how we went about it I think was big for us moving forward,” said Harrison Bader, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning.
Brandon Marsh walked leading off the ninth against Diaz and reached second on a wild pitch before Bryson Stott atoned for an earlier error that led to Mets runs by slapping a game-tying RBI single.
Stott’s throwing error in the eighth on Tyrone Taylor’s grounder positioned the Mets for the steal.
Bader’s two-out single tied it and a wild pitch gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.
“Just to come through feels really good,” Bader said. “Watching it the first few innings on the bench I saw we were working it from a level of focus and it’s something that we can do as often as we want.”
Mendoza’s tone in his address to the team the previous night was reassuring, according to Mets players, and welcomed following a performance in which the team committed two errors that led to three unearned runs and contributed to a 10-5 loss.
“It was just to make sure they know that it’s 162 [games] … we just have to continue to keep going and making sure that we all believe we are a good team,” Mendoza said before the game.
Jose Quintana took a shutout into the sixth Thursday, but was knocked out after allowing two singles that led to two runs.
Overall, the left-hander surrendered two earned runs on four hits with four walks over 5 ¹/₃ innings in which he threw 81 pitches.
Pete Alonso crushed a solo homer to left field in the first inning to give the Mets their first run. The blast, which left the bat at 115.3 mph, was No. 11 for Alonso this season.
Brett Baty, who returned to the lineup a night after Mark Vientos’ arrival to play against lefties, stroked an RBI double against Taijuan Walker that gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Starling Marte singled in the inning and stole second before Baty delivered to snap an 0-for-14 skid.
Marte’s shot through the box in the fourth inning drilled Walker’s left foot and knocked him from the game. The right-hander was diagnosed with a contusion to the foot, according to the Phillies.
Alec Bohm jumped on Reed Garrett’s first pitch and delivered an RBI single in the sixth that pulled the Phillies within 2-1. Nick Castellanos’ ensuing sacrifice fly tied the game.
Quintana surrendered singles to J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper to start the rally before he was removed with one out.
Garrett retired Whit Merrifield to keep the go-ahead run stranded at second base.
Garrett surrendered only his second earned run of the season in the seventh on Schwarber’s RBI double that gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Stott drew a two-out walk and scored the go-ahead run.
Bader hit a one-hop shot off pitcher Jeff Hoffman’s back for an RBI single in the eighth that tied it 3-3.
Hoffman’s ensuing wild pitch allowed Alonso to score the go-ahead run.
Stott’s throwing error on Taylor’s grounder got the Mets started in the inning.
“The last two series have been really tough for us and we kept fighting,” Quintana said. “Tonight it was amazing to get that ‘W.’ We stayed together.”