Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets (74-40) squared off with the Philadelphia Phillies (63-50) on Sunday afternoon. The Mets came into the afternoon sporting a 38-15 record against the NL East. With four combined runs scored between both teams in the series through two games displaying excellent pitching, a vital rubber game loomed between two of baseball’s hottest clubs. With key contributions from starter Chris Bassitt and their lineup, the Mets took home the victory on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bassitt toed the rubber Sunday afternoon at Citi Field for the Mets and retired the side to begin the day.

The Mets came to bat in the bottom of the first against Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, where Brandon Nimmo snapped an 0-for-16 streak by lining a rocket double off the orange padding in rightfield. Two batters later, Francisco Lindor fought off a cutter on the hands and dropped it into left field for his single-season franchise record 82nd RBI of the season by a shortstop, one more than Jose Reyes had in 2006. After cashing a first-inning run, the Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead.

For the Phillies, the fourth inning began with a Rhys Hoskins single against the shift to a vacated second base. Alec Bohm followed up Hoskins with a single to right field. J.T. Realmuto came up and struck out to record the first out. Bassitt ran the count to 3-0 against Nick Castellanos before recording a 3-2 count and thus forcing a fly out to right field. Darick Hall came to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs and rolled over a 3-1 sinker back to Bassitt to end the threat.

In the bottom half of the fourth inning, Pete Alonso ripped a one-out double past third base and down the line for the Mets’ third hit of the day. After Daniel Vogelbach was retired on a nasty 3-2 back-foot slider to record the second out of the inning, Mark Canha took an 0-2 fastball on the outside corner and drove it into right field for a hit that scored Alonso. Canha advanced to second base on the throw home by Castellanos. A batter later, Luis Guillorme fisted a pitch to left field to score Canha to extend the lead to 3-0. A Jeff McNeil walk brought James McCann to the plate, where he looped a sinker into center field to score Guillorme. On the same play, centerfielder Brandon Marsh lobbed the ball back to second baseman Jean Segura, and that is when McNeil made a beeline for home. The throw came in late, and the Mets had picked up an additional run on the McCann hit. Guillorme did pull up lame rounding third and exited the game. Eduardo Escobar replaced him at third base. However, the Mets exploded for four runs in the fourth inning, along with some intelligent baserunning, everything coming with two outs in the inning.

The Phillies came out in the fifth inning swinging, and Segura started the inning with a hot groundball to Alonso at first, who had trouble fielding it cleanly, thus allowing Segura to reach safely. Marsh then drove a double to the wall in left field to set up second and third with nobody out. After striking out Matt Vierling and Bryson Stott, Rhys Hoskins walked on a 3-2 curveball that just missed below the zone. Bohm came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs looking to get the Phillies back in the game. Bassitt ran a fastball in on Bohm’s hands to get a soft lineout to McNeil to keep the Phillies off the board, an incredible display of resilience and adversity to extend the scoreless streak for the Phillies to 14 innings.

Bassitt exited after five innings, allowing four hits, zero runs, two walks, and five strikeouts. Back-to-back strenuous innings and deep pitch counts cut Bassitt’s day short. Regardless, it was a solid start for Bassitt. Trevor Williams came on to pitch the sixth inning for the Mets.

The Mets continued to tack on as Vogelbach drove a fastball deep to right field for a leadoff home run in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 6-0.

The Mets received four scoreless from the bullpen, a combination of Williams, Mychal Givens, Joely Rodriguez, and Adam Ottavino, thus pushing the scoreless streak for the Phillies to 18 innings as the Mets held on to win 6-0.

Player of the Game: Chris Bassitt

Bassitt was solid Sunday. He may have stayed in the game longer if not for an elevated pitch count and a pair of hardworking innings. However, he worked around trouble and stranded six in scoring position on the day. Bassitt is sporting a 4-2 record in his last seven starts, has thrown 45 1/3 innings, and has a 1.79 ERA. He has now gone 24 straight innings without allowing an earned run.

Final line for Bassitt: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

On Deck

The Mets will begin a crucial four-game series against the Braves in Atlanta Monday night. The first pitch is 7:20 p.m. ET, and the game will be an SNY broadcast. The Mets will have Carlos Carrasco on the mound, while the Braves will counter with Spencer Strider.