Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets took on the Marlins on Wednesday night at Citi Field looking to salvage the second game of the two-game series. Taijuan Walker took the ball for the Mets looking for his fifth win against Miami on the season. Despite falling behind 4-0, the Mets put together a late comeback behind a huge day from Eduardo Escobar to take the finale from the Marlins 5-4.

After a scoreless first inning from Walker, Francisco Lindor blooped a base hit into left field in the bottom half of the inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. The Mets were unable to get Lindor in from first base, and they struggled to get much offense going against Jesús Luzardo for most of the night.

While the Mets’ bats failed to produce, Walker had a strong start to his night. Through three innings, he allowed just one hit while striking out four Marlins hitters.

Walker and Luzardo matched zeroes until the Marlins broke the ice in the top of the fourth inning. Charles Leblanc led off the inning with a double down the left field line, and Walker retired the next two hitters without allowing him to advance. Walker nearly made it out of the inning unscathed, but the red hot Bryan De La Cruz turned on a two-strike fastball and put it over the center field fence to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, Walker found himself in trouble again. Jacob Stallings and Lewin Diaz both hit singles, and Leblanc drew a two-out walk to load the bases for Brian Anderson. Anderson worked the count full, but Walker struck him out with a perfect down-and-in splitter to strand the bases loaded and keep the deficit and just two runs.

Buck Showalter chose to reward Walker and let him start the sixth inning, but the decision backfired on Buck and the Mets quickly. Nick Fortes drew a leadoff walk, bringing De La Cruz up with for a third at-bat against Walker. With Seth Lugo seemingly ready to go in the bullpen, De La Cruz doubled for his third hit of the night and put an end to Walker’s night.

Lugo entered the game with runners on second and third and nobody out. He got ahead of JJ Bleday 0-2, but Bleday was able to hit a fly ball deep enough to left field to bring in a run an extend the Marlins’ lead to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly. Despite allowing the run to score, Lugo retired all three batters he faced in the inning and finished the inning with just the lone run scoring.

It appeared Lugo would make quick work of the Marlins in the seventh inning after he retired the first two batters, but he lost the strike zone and walked Leblanc before Anderson doubled into the gap in left-center to make it a four-run lead for Miami.

The Mets’ bats were lifeless in the first six innings against Luzardo. They were unable to score and hit just two singles against the Marlins’ young southpaw. In the seventh, they finally got on the board.

Jeff McNeil started the inning with with second base hit of the night, raising his batting average to .321. Escobar followed with his 20th home run of the season to cut the Marlins’ lead in half. The home run put the Mets right back into the game and sent the Marlins into their bullpen.

After a scoreless eighth inning from Adam Ottavino, the Mets threatened again in the bottom half of the inning. Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and put the tying run on base with nobody out. After the two walks, Lindor swung at a first pitch slider and hit a mile-high fly ball to center field for the first out. Mark Canha drew the third walk of the inning and loaded the bases for McNeil, but like Lindor, he hit a shallow fly ball on the first pitch.

With the game likely on the line with the Mets down to their final four outs, Escobar came through again with another big hit. His bases loaded single to right field drove in two runs and got the Mets even. Mark Vientos came up with a chance to give the Mets the lead, but the rookie struck out with runners on the corners to retire the side with the game still tied.

Edwin Díaz entered for the second consecutive day in the top of the ninth inning, and for the second consecutive day, he was untouchable. After striking out three in his inning of work in the first game of the series, the Mets’ closer struck out the side in order on just 13 pitches to give the Mets a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth.

With one out in the ninth, Tomás Nido hit a long fly ball off the top of the wall in center field for a double to put the winning run in scoring position. Terrance Gore pinch ran for Nido before Nimmo drew a walk. With the winning run in scoring position, the Mets had a golden opportunity to win the game with Alonso and Lindor due up, but the Mets’ two stars were unable to get the job done. Alonso chased a 3-2 slider out of the zone for his fourth strike out of the night, and Lindor popped up on the infield to send the game to extras.

Drew Smith took the ball for the Mets in the top of the 10th and did a terrific job of keeping the free runner from scoring. He retired all three hitters with two strikeouts, and didn’t allow Jon Berti to move from second base.

In the bottom of the 10th, Escobar once again came up with a chance to produce. Canha flew out and McNeil was intentionally walked to bring Escobar up with a chance to win the game, and for the third time, he came up big. He singled against the shift to bring in Lindor with the game winning run to give the Mets a 5-4 win and a one game lead in the N.L. East race.

Player of the Game: Eduardo Escobar

Escobar may have struggled to find a groove for a majority of the season, but the Mets’ third baseman continued his incredible September in Wednesday’s win over Miami. Escobar went 3-for-5 with a home run and drove in all five Mets runs. Escobar is hitting .330 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs in September, and he almost single-handedly generated Wednesday’s comeback win.

On Deck

After a day off on Thursday, the Mets will start their biggest series of the season on Friday when they take on the Atlanta Braves at 7:20 p.m. ET at Truist Park. Jacob deGrom (5-3, 2.93 ERA) will start the opener for the Mets against Max Fried (13-7, 2.50 ERA) for the Braves.

DeGrom has faced the Braves twice in 2022, and is 1-1 in those starts. In 12 1/3 innings against Atlanta, deGrom has allowed five runs on six hits will striking out 21 batters.

Fried has made four starts against the Mets in 2022, and he has allowed two earned runs in all four starts. He went 2-2 against the Mets and pitched to a 3.00 ERA over 24 innings.

The Mets need just one win in the series with Atlanta to clinch the tiebreaker in the division race.

The game will be broadcast on SNY, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.