After a brutal series with the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park to kick off the season that saw the Mets go 1-2, with a blown game and absolute washout thrown in, the team evened up their record with a walk-off victory on Thursday afternoon in their home opener against the Miami Marlins.

However, the walk-off came with some controversy, as Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch, but really should have been punched out as he was plunked with his elbow in the strike zone.

Here’s how it went down:

With the Mets’ backs against the wall, Jeff McNeil hit a birthday blast in the bottom of the ninth to knot the game up at 2-2. The team then went on to load the bases with the struggling Conforto coming to the plate.

Conforto worked the count full, then was grazed on the elbow by the pitch. The home plate umpire, Ron Kulpa, looked as though he was about to call Conforto out on strikes, but then pulled a quick 180, sent him to first, indicating that he was hit by the pitch, and the game was over.

Of course, the Marlins’ skipper, Don Mattingly, came out to argue, as did some of the players.

Kulpa’s call, however, stood even after some deliberation with the umpires. Since this play involved balls and strikes and whether he was hit in the zone or not, it was not subject to video review.

Rule 5.05(b)(2) does state this, so there was certainly room for more discussion.

(A) The ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, or (B) The batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball; (2) If the ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a strike, whether or not the batter tries to avoid the ball. If the ball is outside the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a ball if he makes no attempt to avoid being touched.

After the game, Kulpa acknowledged that he made an incorrect call.

“That guy was hit by the pitch in the strike zone,” Kulpa said. “I should have called him out.”

Marlins’ skipper Don Mattingly was told by the crew that the only thing they could review was whether the ball hit Conforto or not, not whether or not he was in the strike zone when it happened.

“I guess the toughest part is it’s just a strike. Kind of that simple,” Mattingly said. “You’d think with all the replay we do that you could say, ‘That ball’s a strike.’ I wonder what happens when they put the automated strike zone and it breaks the plane and the guy does that. I wonder if that’s a strike or not. I guess that’s for later.”

Conforto remarked that he knew there was going to be some controversy after it happened, but didn’t ever say he leaned into the pitch.

“Not the way I wanted to win the ballgame,” Conforto said. “I wanted to go up there and drive the ball somewhere. From my point of view, it was a slider, felt it was coming back toward me. I turned. There may have been a little lift of my elbow just out of habit, out of reaction, and it barely skimmed the edge of my elbow guard. I did see that [Kulpa] rung me up.

“I think that’s why you didn’t see a reaction from me right away. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I knew there was going to be some controversy. Our first-base coach was yelling at me to get down there and touch the base and let’s get out of here.”

The Mets have off tomorrow, but will resume play with the Miami Marlins on Saturday with their ace Jacob deGrom on the bump. Considering how this one ended on Thursday, it will be interesting to see if any tensions arise over the weekend between the two clubs.