The National League East race isn’t over just yet.
For the second night in a row, the Mets gained ground on the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies with a head-to-head victory — this time in walk-off fashion.
Brandon Nimmo’s game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the ninth capped a 6-5 win at Citi Field.
Nimmo’s tie-breaking, bases-loaded hit was the Mets’ fourth consecutive single against Phillies closer Jhoan Duran, who did not record an out.
The Mets now trail the Phillies by five games in the NL East with 30 to play.
The walk-off allowed the Mets to escape with a win on a night Ryan Helsley blew another late lead.
The Mets were up, 5-3, when Helsley entered to pitch the eighth, but that lead quickly evaporated when the hard-throwing right-hander issued a one-out walk to Nick Castellanos, followed by a two-run homer by Harrison Bader.
Bader spent last season with the Mets and, after beginning this year with the Minnesota Twins, was acquired by the Phillies before last month’s trade deadline.
Helsley has now blown four saves and owns a 10.38 ERA in 11 games since the Mets acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals last month. He’s allowed at least one run in seven of those appearances.
A two-time All-Star, Helsley had a 3.00 ERA over 36 appearances with the Cardinals. He exited Tuesday’s appearance to boos from a crowd of 41,914.
The late-game drama transpired after the Mets jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind a five-run fifth inning.
The Mets’ first six batters reached base to begin the fifth, including Juan Soto, who put the Mets on the board with an RBI single against Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo.
After a walk to Starling Marte, the left-handed Luzardo exited with the bases loaded and no outs.
Pete Alonso then greeted right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering with a two-run double into the gap in left-center, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Red-hot Mark Vientos added a run-scoring single — giving him 14 RBI in his last nine games — and Nimmo wrapped up that rally with a sacrifice fly.
Luzardo had hurled 10.2 scoreless innings against the Mets this year before the fifth-inning eruption.
Upon being removed from the game, Luzardo shouted at home plate umpire Willie Traynor and was swiftly ejected. Luzardo had already taken issue with Traynor granting time to Soto during a first-inning at-bat.
The Phillies got a run back against Huascar Brazoban in the sixth, making it a 5-3 game, and that remained the score until Helsley’s implosion two innings later.
Tuesday’s game was scoreless through four innings, with Mets starter Sean Manaea recording seven strikeouts over 67 pitches to that point.
But Manaea faltered in the top of the fifth, giving up hard contact to three of the four Phillies batters he faced — with two of those at-bats ending with singles.
After Trae Turner’s single put runners at the corners with two outs, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza lifted Manaea in favor of fellow left-hander Gregory Soto.
But Soto walked the lefty-swinging Kyle Schwarber to load the bases, then surrendered a two-run single to Bryce Harper, who also bats left-handed.
Both runs were charged to Manaea, who finished with a line of two earned runs in 4.2 innings and eight strikeouts on 90 pitches.
After going 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA last season, Manaea has a 5.01 ERA through nine starts this year. He is yet to throw more than 91 pitches or go more than 5.2 innings in a start.
Before Tuesday’s game, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Manaea was still building up stamina after a spring-training oblique strain and a loose body in his elbow delayed his season debut until mid-July.
“We’ve seen periods of dominance with Sean early in games, and then it seems like, whether it’s one walk or one hit by pitch, things can spiral a little bit,” Stearns said.
The Mets won Monday night’s series opener, 13-3. They’ll go for a sweep on Wednesday night, with Mets rookie Nolan McLean (2-0, 1.46 ERA) set to make his third career start and Taijuan Walker (4-6, 3.44 ERA) slated to start for Philadelphia.
