Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Coming off the team’s first series win in a month, the Mets hosted the Guardians on Friday for the first game of a three-game series. In the first game between the two teams since the blockbuster trade that brought Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to New York and sent Andrés Giménez and Amed Rosario to Cleveland, Carrasco got the start for the Mets against his former team while Cal Quantrill got the start for Cleveland.

In a wild game in which the Mets played virtually all of it from behind, they came back multiple times, including down two in extra innings, to defeat the Guardians 10-9 in a thriller.

Carrasco took the mound to start the game for the first time since April 15, his last appearance before he was sidelined due to injury. After getting a weak contact out off the bat of Steven Kwan, Rosario hit a ground ball up the middle for a base hit. José Ramírez then walked and in the next at-bat, Josh Naylor took Carrasco deep to put the Mets in an early three-run hole. Josh Bell then flew out and Giménez struck out to put the inning to bed, but not before major damage was done.

The Guardians added another run in the top of the second inning. Myles Straw led off the inning with a double and advanced to third base on a fielder’s choice. Then Cam Gallagher, who entered the game with a .070 batting average and a .223 OPS, dumped a ball into left field for an RBI single to make it 4-0. A ground ball double play off the bat of Kwan ended the inning to limit the damage.

The Mets recorded their first hit of the night in the bottom of the second, after Brett Baty pulled one down the right field line for a one-out double. The Mets wouldn’t cut into the Guardians’ lead, though, as a Starling Marte strikeout and a Mark Vientos fielder’s choice ended the inning.

The Mets got another one-out baserunner in the bottom of the third after Francisco Álvarez was hit by a pitch in a full count. They were unable to do anything with the baserunner again, though, as the next two batters went down in order due to a flyout and a groundout.

Quantrill appeared to be through a quick 1-2-3 inning in the fourth but a two-out error by the first baseman Bell and another hit-by-pitch, this time at Marte’s expense, put two runners on. That brought up Vientos who hit a sharp ground ball to third base, but Ramírez scooped it and stepped on the bag to end the threat.

Although it appeared Carrasco had settled in after a rough start to the game, throwing 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth, he would surrender another run in the fifth inning. Will Brennan led off the fifth inning with a walk and quickly stole a base. Advancing to third base on a fielder’s choice, he was driven in with a two-out single by Rosario to give the Guardians a 5-0 lead.

With one out and nobody on in the bottom of the fifth, Francisco Álvarez ran the count full once again and this time sent a ball well over the left field wall for a solo shot, his fifth home run of the year. That put the Mets on the board to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Francisco Lindor then recorded his 15th double of the year to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Jeff McNeil brought him home with an RBI single, extending his hitting streak to six games, to cut the Guardians’ lead to three.

The inning ended after Pete Alonso hit a weak liner to the shortstop Rosario. Rosario dropped the ball after attempting to catch it, but was able to corral the ball and throw out Alonso at first.

Carrasco exited the game after giving up five runs in five innings, driving his season ERA up to 8.68. Along with the five runs, Carrasco allowed five hits and two walks and struck out three. Dominic Leone relieved Carrasco to start the sixth and gave up a leadoff single to Naylor. A single up the middle by Bell created a threat with runners on first and second base and nobody out. Naylor advanced to third on a flyout but the Mets were then able to double up the speedy Straw to escape the inning.

After a troublesome fifth inning, Quantrill remained on for the sixth and was immediately greeted with an opposite-field homer off the bat of Baty to make it a 5-3 game. Then with two outs and nobody on, Mark Canha recorded an infield hit to chase Quantrill out of the game. Lefty reliever Sam Hentges came out of the bullpen to face the young Álvarez who came to the plate as the tying run. Álvarez hit the first pitch he saw to deep right field but it wasn’t deep enough as it was caught to end the inning.

Leone remained in the game in the seventh but for the second straight inning, he gave up a leadoff single, this time off the bat of Brennan. Another hit by the catcher Gallagher put runners on the corners with nobody out. Leone then walked Kwan to load the bases, driving Leone out of the game and bringing in Stephen Nogosek to try to clean up the mess.

In a 3-1 count, Nogosek threw a fastball down the heart of the plate to Rosario who hit a sharp line drive right into the glove of Nimmo in center field. Brennan tagged for home but wasn’t close to scoring, getting tagged out in a rundown for a massive double play.

A walk to Ramírez loaded the bases for the second time in the inning, bringing Naylor to the plate. The Mets couldn’t pull off another miracle, as Naylor drove a single the opposite way to bring in two runs, giving him five RBIs on the night and giving the Guardians a 7-3 lead. Another walk by Nogosek loaded the bases yet again, and this time he was relieved for Tommy Hunter who got Giménez to ground out to end the inning.

With the top of the order up and a chance to rally, Nimmo led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. A single up the middle by Lindor put runners on first and second with nobody out and the heart of the order coming up. Struggling to throw strikes, Hentges then walked McNeil to load the bases for Alonso who came to the plate as the tying run.

With James Karinchak coming into the game to relieve Hentges, Alonso drove a ball over the wall in right-center field for an opposite field grand slam to make it a 7-7 tie. Alonso’s grand slam extended his home run streak to four games and brought him to 71 career home runs at Citi Field, tying Lucas Duda for the most in the stadium’s history. After Alonso’s mammoth home run, Karinchak struck out three around a two-out walk by Vientos to keep the game tied.

Adam Ottavino took the mound in the eighth inning hoping to keep the game tied. Facing the bottom of the Guardians’ lineup, Ottavino induced a flyout and two groundouts in a 1-2-3 inning. Enyel De Los Santos came in to pitch for the Guardians in the bottom of the inning and recorded a 1-2-3 inning of his own.

For the first time this year, David Robertson pitched in three straight games as he came on to pitch in the ninth inning. Robertson needed just nine pitches to induce three ground balls from the top of the Guardians’ order, recording two of the outs on excellent defensive plays from McNeil and Alonso.

Like Robertson, Trevor Stephan also needed just nine pitches to set the Mets down in order in the bottom of the ninth, striking out Alonso and Baty in the process to send the game to extra innings.

Drew Smith took the mound in the tenth inning, hoping to strand Ramírez who was serving as the Guardians’ free runner. Smith got Naylor to pop up to record the first out of the inning. However, Gabriel Arias, who entered the game to pinch run and for defense, hit an opposite field home run in his first at-bat of the game to give the Guardians a 9-7 lead. Smith recorded the next two outs to get out of the inning, but not before giving the Mets another hill to climb.

Emmanuel Clase, one of the elite closers in baseball, came into the game in the bottom of the tenth to try to close it out for Cleveland. Marte recorded a loud out as he hit one just shy of the warning track, able to advance the free runner Baty to third. Vientos then hit a ball up the middle for an RBI single, bringing the Mets back within one.

Daniel Vogelbach, who had been struggling recently, came on to pinch hit for Canha. During his at-bat, Eduardo Escobar came into the game to pinch run for Vientos and swiped second base, his first stolen base of the year. However, Vogelbach struck out which brought Álvarez to the plate as the winning run with the tying run on second.

Down to his last strike, Álvarez grounded a ball through the left side of the infield to bring Escobar home and tie the game once again. Álvarez advanced to second on an errant throw home, putting the winning run in scoring position. Also falling behind in the count 0-2, Nimmo chopped a ball to the left side of the infield and reached for an infield hit with Álvarez advancing to third. And then in what was nothing short of a storybook ending, Lindor lined a ball into the outfield on the first pitch he saw to give the Mets a thrilling 10-9 victory.

Player(s) of the Game

Not only did Pete Alonso extend his major league home run lead with his 17th of the year, but he extended his home run streak to four games in a row with arguably his biggest home run of the year. Continuing to deliver in clutch situations, he hit a grand slam while down four to tie the game in the seventh inning after the team had been playing from behind all game.

In his first game against his former team, Francisco Lindor was the hero going 3-for-6 with a double and the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the tenth to walk it off. In a game that seemed nearly impossible to win at times, both Lindor and Alonso provided moments that allowed the Mets to enjoy a memorable win.

On Deck

The Mets will play the second game of the three-game set against the Guardians on Saturday afternoon at 4:10 p.m. ET. Max Scherzer (3-2, 4.88 ERA), coming off a start in which he gave up one run in five innings, will be on the mound for the Mets looking to provide length and consistency. For the Guardians, impressive rookie Tanner Bibee (1-1, 3.22) gets the start after a fantastic performance in his last start in which he gave up one run in 7 2/3 innings. The game will be broadcast on PIX11.