Mets Walk Off Phillies to Complete Perfect Homestand

It was the perfect ending to a perfect homestand.

Starling Marte singled home a head-first sliding Pete Alonso to lift the Mets to a 4-3 victory in 10 innings Wednesday at Citi Field, completing a three-game sweep of the Phillies and a 7-0 homestand. The Mets (18-7) are five games up on second-place Philadelphia, and with the Padres’ loss in Detroit, New York owns the best record in baseball.

Alonso doubled home the tying run in the 10th after the Phillies scored a run in the top of the inning.

With the Mets pursuing perfection, the universe (OK, technically, Carlos Mendoza) picked David Peterson to pitch on a perfect day for baseball. Peterson wasn’t perfect, but he did toss 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball.

Brett Baty hit a two-run homer off Zack Wheeler to the upper deck in right, a 425-foot blast with an exit velocity of 113.9 mph that gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the second inning and also may have sent Mendoza a message.

With Jeff McNeil due to return to the club from injury Friday, Baty could be sent down to the minors. McNeil played center field in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday in Syracuse and went 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.

The Phillies (13-12) singled four times to score twice in the fourth to tie the game at 2. It was only the second time in the last eight games that a Mets starter gave up at least two runs. Peterson extended the starters’ streak to 12 games of not allowing a home run. Mets starters have also gone 13 straight home games without allowing a homer, tied (1988) for the second-longest single-season streak in franchise history.

Peterson, who gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out two, got a lot of help from the defense. Brandon Nimmo pulled off a pair of gems in left, a diving catch in the fifth and a leaping catch in the sixth. Mark Vientos made a diving, backhanded catch of a line drive at third, and Francisco Lindor made a nice stop in the hole at short that led to a force at second when Baty made a nice scoop of a short hop.

The Mets’ bullpen was at it again. Huascar Brazobán, who relieved Peterson, pitched a scoreless inning. Danny Young had back-to-back strikeouts of lefties Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber to end the seventh.

José Buttó pitched a scoreless eighth, escaping the inning when Juan Soto threw out Nick Castellanos at the plate on a two-out single to right. The defense sparkled again.

Díaz pitched a perfect ninth before giving up a go-ahead RBI single to Castellanos in the 10th. Díaz left the game with an apparent injury. It was not immediately clear what the problem was. Max Kranick entered and escaped a bases-loaded jam to end the 10th.

Stat of the Game

The perfect homestand is the second of seven games or more in Mets history. The only other came in 2015 when the Mets swept a 10-game slate.

Player of the Game

Marte’s single to center secured the Mets’ third walk-off win of the year.

On Deck

The Mets are off Thursday before starting a four-game series at Washington on Friday at 6:45 p.m. ET. Kodai Senga (3-1, 0.79 ERA) hasn’t allowed a run in his last three starts, covering 17 2/3 innings. The Nationals haven’t announced their starter yet. The game will air on SNY.

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