'Resiliency': Mets come back to walk off Phils

NEW YORK -- For weeks, the implicit promise at Citi Field was that a healthy lineup would benefit the Mets in innumerable ways. Having Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto back from the injured list would help the Mets by nature of how strong they are as hitters. But it would also help everyone around them by virtue of their presence.

So it was in Game 1 of Friday’s seven-inning doubleheader at Citi Field, where two Mets players who have been healthy all season -- Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith -- made the offense go in a 2-1 win over the Phillies. After Lindor tied things on a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning, Smith won it with a run-scoring, walk-off hit in the eighth.

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“Resiliency -- these guys don’t give up,” manager Luis Rojas said. “For the guys to battle and not put their heads down, I think that just tells you what this team is. They won’t do that. They’ll keep going.”

Struggling to score all afternoon, the Mets rallied when José Alvarado threw away a routine grounder for a two-base error to lead off the bottom of the seventh. That baserunner, Luis Guillorme, came around to score on Lindor’s RBI single off Alvarado.

Seth Lugo struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the eighth before Smith hit a Ranger Suárez pitch to center to win it.

Consider that a catharsis after a frustrating first six innings that saw the Mets go 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position while falling victim to Phillies starter Aaron Nola, who struck out 10 in a row to match Tom Seaver’s 51-year-old record. In what proved to be a fine Jacob deGrom impression, Nola fanned 12 batters over 5 1/3 shutout innings, drove home his team’s only run with an RBI double ... and took a no-decision despite all of it.

It was hardly the way the Mets had drawn up their Game 1 victory. But considering their overall offensive struggles, they’ll more than happily take it.

“That’s what we’ve been doing all year,” said starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, who delivered five innings of one-run ball. “It seems like we were down and out, but these guys battle all the time. To have our guys come in -- Lindor coming in clutch, and Dom there at the end of the game -- it says a lot. … We know if we keep the game close, we’re going to have a really good chance of winning the game.”