Jose Reyes hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth inning and Asbrubal Cabrera hit a three-run drive in an 11th-inning comeback to lift the New York Mets to a dramatic 9-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night that assured them of remaining in the NL wild-card lead.
New York trailed 6-4 when pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo singled off Jeanmar Gomez leading off the ninth and Reyes sent changeup over the right-field wall with one out.
Reyes, who rejoined the Mets this summer, had never homered to tie a game in the ninth inning or later. He danced with Alejandro De Aza in the dugout before exchanging exuberant high-fives with teammates.
Philadelphia went ahead 8-6 in the 11th when A.J. Ellis hit an RBI single off Jeurys Familia and Jim Henderson (2-2) walked Maikel Franco with the bases loaded.
Pinch-hitter Michael Conforto walked against Edubray Ramos (1-3) with one out in the bottom half, Reyes singled and Cabrera, who has been playing with a strained left knee tendon, sent a slider soaring to right, setting off a wild celebration. The Mets had been 0-63 this year when trailing after eight innings.
New York, which stopped a three-game skid, began the night tied with St. Louis and San Francisco for the NL wild-card lead.
The Mets used 27 players, including 10 pitchers, to win a New York used to win a struggle that took 4 hours, 23 minutes.
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New York wasted a lead provided by Curtis Granderson's two-run homer and fell behind 3-2 when Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp homered on consecutive pitches from Seth Lugo in the fifth. Lugo is among the rookies inserted into the Mets rotation because of injuries to Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
