If the Mets came through with big hits as consistently as they played tight games, they would be cruising into October.
It might be too late to make a difference, but the Mets finally did both on Sunday night to snap a five-game losing streak.
Jeff McNeil broke a tie game in the seventh inning with a solo home run to lift the Mets to their first win in a week, 3-2 over the Phillies at Citi Field.
The homer — McNeil’s first since Aug. 1, a span of 43 games without one — gave the Mets their first lead since Tuesday and ensured that they would avoid getting swept for a second straight series.
With the lead in hand, Aaron Loup, while lowering his ERA to 1.00 across 54 innings this season, and Edwin Diaz closed the door on the Phillies (76-73) in the final two innings.
Still, the Mets (73-77) wrapped up a damaging week to their playoff hopes after going 1-5 against the Cardinals and Phillies, two teams ahead of them in the postseason chase. Their win on Sunday kept them 5 ½ games back of the Braves for first place in the NL East and seven games back of the Cardinals for the final NL wild card with 12 games left.
Manager Luis Rojas said before the game he was guarding against a letdown in the clubhouse, with the five-game losing streak coming at the most critical time of the Mets’ season — they started the week just three games out of a playoff spot. But he didn’t come away concerned about it.
“The guys are not hanging [their head] or anything,” Rojas said. “They’re not being negative in the clubhouse. They are ready to fight, which is what a manager, coaches and everyone wants to see. They’re in a good mood to go out tonight and compete.”
The Phillies took a 1-0 lead off Rich Hill in the first inning with some aggressive baserunning. Bryce Harper walked and then scored from first on a bloop hustle double to left-center field by J.T. Realmuto.
Harper then hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to make it a 2-0 Phillies lead.
That marked the last batter for Hill, who delivered a solid 4 ²/₃ innings while giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out seven. He now has a 3.88 ERA in 11 outings with the Mets since coming over in a trade from the Rays.
The Mets got Hill off the hook in the bottom of the fifth. After McNeil singled and Tomas Nido doubled, Dominic Smith pinch hit and ripped a two-run double off Kyle Gibson to make it 2-2.
Jeurys Familia, Trevor May and Seth Lugo combined to strike out six straight batters until Lugo gave up a single and a walk with two outs in the seventh inning.
Loup entered to face Harper and walked the NL MVP contender to load the bases, but came back to get Realmuto to ground out to escape the jam.