PHILADELPHIA — The New York Mets erased a six-run deficit with seven runs in the ninth inning, capping the rally with Starling Marte‘s tiebreaking double to beat the flabbergasted Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 Thursday night.
With the Mets trailing 7-1, Marte led off the inning with an infield single against James Norwood and scored on Francisco Lindor‘s two-run homer. Mark Canha added an RBI infield single that clanked off pitcher Corey Knebel, and J.D. Davis had a pinch-hit RBI double to rally the NL East-leading Mets.
Brandon Nimmo then lined a tying, two-run single to center off Knebel. He came around to score when Marte ripped a double off the wall in center field.
It’s the first time New York trailed by at least six runs in the ninth and won since Sept. 13, 1997, when Carl Everett hit a tying grand slam with two outs in the ninth and the Mets went on to beat the Montreal Expos in extra innings. The Mets had been 0-330 when trailing by at least six runs since that win, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Mets were as high as 60-1 to win at Caesars Sportsbook when they trailed by six runs in the ninth inning Thursday night.
Major league teams had lost 857 straight games when trailing by six or more runs in the ninth inning or later, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The last team to win in such a situation, before Thursday night, was the Washington Nationals — against the Mets — on Sept. 3, 2019.
Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos homered for the Phillies, and Aaron Nola pitched seven sharp innings. The Phillies have lost five of six.
It looked like Nola was going to earn his second victory when the Mets came to bat in the ninth having scored just one run on three hits.
Edwin Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save in seven chances. Adonis Medina (1-0) allowed one hit in 2⅔ scoreless innings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.