After a 7-0 rout of the Giants on Wednesday to even the series, the Mets went to battle against rookie right-hander Shaun Anderson to try and take the rubber game from the last-place Giants. Anderson was coming off his first big league win against the Orioles on Saturday, when he gave up two runs in seven innings.

The Mets got back-to-back bombs from Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith in the first, and came back from a one-run deficit due to late-game contributions from Jeff McNeil, Todd Frazier, and Juan Lagares, leading them to a 6-3 victory.

Zack Wheeler, coming off a nine-strikeout performance against the Diamondbacks, faced the team who drafted him in the first round back in 2009. He delivered a solid effort, allowing only three hits and one walk in seven innings while striking out six. However, two of the hits were home runs as he gave up three earned runs in the outing.

The relief corps of Seth Lugo and Jeurys Familia nailed down the final six outs in the win.

Pitching

Wheeler came out throwing hard, reaching 99 mph in a perfect first inning with two strikeouts. He set down the first eight before hitting the pitcher Anderson in the third. Juan Lagares helped, making a great catch against the wall to retire Steven Duggar for the second out of the third.

Wheeler allowed his first hit to Mike Yastrzemski to lead off the fourth, and allowed a two-run homer to Brandon Belt later in the inning to tie the game.

Aside from the home run, Wheeler rolled through five innings on 78 pitches, striking out five and perhaps most importantly, walking just one.

With one out in the sixth, Pablo Sandoval pulled his eighth home run of the year in what’s been a bit of a career resurgence for him, and the Giants took a 3-2 lead. The homer came on a 90 mph splitter thrown by Wheeler in the low-and-in portion of the strike zone.

Sandoval’s homer was the eighth allowed by Wheeler in his last five games. It was also the first streak in Wheeler’s career where he allowed a home run in five straight starts, and second time he allowed multiple home runs in consecutive starts.

Despite the home run trouble, Wheeler stayed otherwise solid, settling down for a perfect seventh inning. It was his eight time completing seven innings this year, tied for the Major League lead. He has completed seven innings in 14 of his last 16 starts at Citi Field (via MMO’s Michael Mayer).

Seth Lugo came in to work the eighth inning in a tie game, and recorded an easy one-two-three frame.

After the Mets’ eight-inning offensive outburst, the Mets went to Jeurys Familia rather than closer Edwin Diaz, and Familia fired an easy one-two-three inning to seal the deal, as the Mets took the rubber game of the series.

Offense

Jeff McNeil got the day off, with Dominic Smith getting the start in left field. Adeiny Hechavarria also got the start at second after Robinson Cano came out of his return yesterday with the same left quad issue. Tomas Nido got the start behind the plate.

Amed Rosario got the Mets on the board early, smacking a ball over the fence in right-center field, his second opposite field home run in two days. It was his eighth of the year, one shy of his career high (nine).

Smith preceded to match Rosario with a solo shot of his own, continuing his very strong year at the plate and raising his OPS to a robust 1.083 (at the time of the homer). It was the third time in Mets history that they’ve led off a game with back-to-back home runs (via Tim Britton of The Athletic).

The Mets offense continued to rally against the struggling rookie, with Pete Alonso drawing a walk and Michael Conforto lining a single to right on a 3-1 count.

However, Todd Frazier lined out to the shortstop and Hechavarria grounded into a double play to end the threat, as Anderson was able to limit the damage.

Anderson was able to settle down, as the Mets collected just a Smith shift-beating bunt single in the next two innings.

In the fourth, the Mets got back-to-back singles, including a bunt hit from Lagares, their second bunt hit of the game. However, yet another potential rally came to an end with a double play, this time off the bat of Nido.

Conforto drew a walk in the sixth, the second issued by Anderson, and smartly advanced to second on a Frazier groundout, but once again, the Mets could not bring him home.

Lagares walked to lead off the seventh, chasing Anderson from the game. Right-hander Reyes Moronta then entered and allowed an infield hit to Nido.

With Wheeler’s spot in the order up, the Mets opted to pinch-hit Carlos Gomez to try and bunt the runners over. Gomez’s popped up the bunt, but luckily for him it landed fair and effectively worked as a sac bunt, moving the runners to second and third with one away.

The Mets then made the interesting decision to pinch-hit their best bat off the bench, McNeil, for the shortstop Rosario. McNeil battled against Moronta, fouling off a couple pitches before poking the ball over Brandon Crawford‘s head for a bloop single. It wasn’t pretty, but it tied the game at three apiece.

With runners on the corners and one out, the Giants brought in lefty Tony Watson to face the left-handed-hitting Smith. So, the Mets pinch-hit the struggling J.D. Davis, who promptly grounded into another rally-killing double play. McNeil stayed in the game at second, and Davis stayed in the game in left.

Facing Mark Melancon in the eighth, Alonso led off with a sharp single. Conforto replaced him on a force out, stole second base, and then Frazier hit a fly ball to left-center that carried for a two-run homer. The Mets regained their lead, now up 5-3.

Lagares tacked on another run, scoring Hechavarria from first with a double. McNeil, up for the second time, ripped another RBI single, this time into right field to extend the Mets’ lead to 7-3.

Davis was hit by a pitch in his second time up to load the bases with two outs for Alonso, who popped out to Sandoval to mercifully end the four-run frame.

On Deck

The Rockies will come to town tomorrow for a three-game series. Jacob deGrom (3-5, 3.49 ERA) will get the ball coming off a strong start against the Diamondbacks, while Antonio Senzatela (4-4, 5.33 ERA) will take the mound for the Rockies.

The game will be televised by SNY and ESPN and broadcast on WCBS 880 and ESPN-1050.