Brandon Nimmo’s homer off Zack Wheeler gives Mets series win over Phillies, sets up Braves showdown

Brandon Nimmo froze astatine location sheet and uncorked a well-earned fist pump.

Nimmo had conscionable rounded the bases with a go-ahead location tally against erstwhile teammate Zack Wheeler, delivering 1 of the biggest hits yet successful a Mets play filled with clutch theatrics.

The sixth-inning solo changeable enactment the Mets ahead, 2-1, implicit the Phillies, energizing a sold-out Citi Field assemblage of 43,139 that provided a playoff-like atmosphere.

That proved to beryllium the last people successful a Mets triumph with important postseason ramifications.

With the victory, the Mets (87-69) moved into a necktie with the Diamondbacks for the 2nd National League Wild Card spot, portion maintaining their two-game pb implicit the Braves for the last Wild Card position.

The Mets and Braves statesman a perchance pivotal three-game bid successful Atlanta connected Tuesday night.

The Mets took 3 of 4 from the first-place Phillies, preventing their rival from clinching the NL East astatine Citi Field.

Sunday’s triumph required immoderate dense lifting. Wheeler, a erstwhile apical Mets imaginable who spent 2013-19 with the team, entered the crippled with a 16-6 grounds and a 2.56 ERA, positioning him for his 3rd top-six decorativeness successful NL Cy Young voting successful 4 years.

Tyrone Taylor’s second-inning RBI azygous was the lone discourtesy the Mets had managed against the ace done 5 innings – until Nimmo’s blast hardly cleared the right-field wall.

The hard-throwing Wheeler held the Mets to 2 earned runs implicit seven-plus innings, striking retired eight.

Those 2 runs were capable for the Mets, who deployed 4 pitchers to bounds the Phillies’ loaded lineup.

Equipped with an overpowering fastball, Mets starter Tylor Megill allowed lone 1 tally implicit 4 innings and struck retired six. He boasts a 1.78 ERA successful 5 starts since being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse connected Aug. 30 to regenerate the injured Paul Blackburn.

Phil Maton past pitched 2 scoreless innings successful relief, and Jose Butto hurled different earlier person Edwin Diaz nailed down a tense six-out save.

Diaz stranded a runner astatine 3rd basal successful the eighth and ninth innings. The ninth was peculiarly dramatic, with the Phillies putting runners connected 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, but Diaz struck retired a swinging Kody Clemens with a 98.3 mph fastball to decorativeness disconnected the game.

Saturday’s 6-3 triumph implicit the Phillies featured akin heroes, with Nimmo’s seventh-inning RBI azygous proving to beryllium the game-winner and Diaz getting the last 4 outs.

Sunday marked the Mets’ past location crippled of the regular season. They went 6-1 connected their last location stand, contempt being without prima shortstop Francisco Lindor, who missed his seventh consecutive crippled Sunday with lower-back discomfort.

Adding to the play was the attraction surrounding Pete Alonso, an impending escaped cause who whitethorn person been playing his last location crippled successful a Mets uniform.

Alonso received a lasting ovation during his first-inning at-bat, which helium acknowledged by raising his helmet to the cheering crowd.

Chants of “Pete A-lon-so” filled the aerial during each of Alonso’s at-bats. He finished 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts.

The Mets are disconnected Monday earlier opening a six-game roadworthy travel to extremity the regular season. If they tin proceed their blistery play successful Atlanta, a instrumentality to the playoffs for the archetypal clip since 2022 conscionable mightiness beryllium connected the horizon.