PHILADELPHIA — A nearly improbable Mets win turned into a gut punch Sunday night.
Short of a miracle, the Mets couldn’t escape the bottom of the ninth after Mark Vientos’ second homer of the game a half-inning earlier.
But Tyler McGill surrendered a walk-off RBI single to Nick Castellanos in the bottom of the inning as the Mets lost to the Phillies 7-6 in Game 2 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park.
McGill followed Trea Turner and Bryce Harper into the eighth following an Edwin Diaz blast.
This Mets’ best wild card surge in the postseason and early success will determine which version of Diaz shows up on which day or inning.
Diaz shut the door on getting the Mets into the playoffs before going begging for the ninth ball in the eighth inning last Monday in Atlanta. It was Diaz who throttled the Brewers three nights later and allowed the Mets to rally for the NL Wild Card Series victory.
And then there was Sunday night, and it came full circle to the right hand. Diaz got the final out in the seventh inning and then pitched again to start the eighth.
Bryson Stott’s two-run triple backbreaker against Diaz.
The Phillies’ go-ahead rally came against Diaz in the eighth when Harper drew a one-out walk and drove in runners at 98 mph. Stott, on the sixth pitch of his at-bat, tripled a slider into the right-field corner for two runs that put the Mets in a 5-4 hole. Diaz drove in insurance runs on Megill and JT Realmuto’s RBI fielder’s choice.
But following Francisco Lindor’s single in the ninth, Vientos went deep against Matt Strom to tie it 6-6.
After Luis Severino blew a 3-0 advantage by allowing back-to-back homers to Harper and Castellanos in the sixth, Brandon Nimmo regained the lead for the Mets with a solo blast in the seventh.
Severino’s six hits over six innings (91 pitches) included three earned runs with seven strikeouts. It was the second straight start this postseason in which the right-hander surrendered three earned runs in six innings (Tuesday in Game 1 of the NL wild-card series at Milwaukee).
Viandos hit a two-run homer in the third off Christopher Sanchez to score the game’s first run. Francisco Lindor singled in the inning, clearing the fence perfectly for his first career postseason homer before the Vientos went to the opposite field.
Starling Marte’s throwing error at third allowed Johan Rojas to advance to second on Kyle Schwarber’s fly out. Rojas stole third but was stranded. Turner stole second and third in the first inning for the Phillies before Severino struck out Harper and retired Castellanos.
Stott singled in the fourth with two outs, and Francisco Alvarez was thrown out trying to steal second.
Pete Alonso opened the sixth inning with a homer against Jose Ruiz that extended the Mets’ lead to 3-0. His ninth-inning homer Thursday in Milwaukee — his second blast in three games — saved the Mets’ season.
The lefty Sanchez lasted five innings and allowed one walk on five hits with two runs and five strikeouts.
Severino was tagged in the sixth, hitting a 99-mph fastball that Harper crushed for a two-run homer to pull the Phillies within 3-2. Castellanos, the next batter, jumped on a sweeper in the strike zone and blasted a 425-foot homer to left-center to tie the game.
Nimmo’s homer came with two outs in the seventh, after Orion Kerkering walked Lindor and Vientos to start the frame.
Jose Buto struck out Realmuto in the seventh and allowed a two-out single to Rojas before Diaz entered to get Schwarber out.
