Jessica Alcheh-USA TODAY Sports

On a picture perfect day at Citi Field where the Mets honored one of the all-time greats in Keith Hernandez, it was perhaps fitting that Tomás Nido emerged as the hero in the present day. With Hernandez having his jersey retired in an emotional pre-game ceremony, the onus was on the 2022 Mets to go out and deliver a performance that number 17 would have been proud of. And boy did they. In the most dramatic of circumstances too.

After blowing a lead in the eighth inning, the Mets were forced to go to extra innings and that’s when the madness began to unfold. This with Nido at the heart of it.

To start things off, in the top of the 10th inning Nido picked off Jon Berti from second base. Nido beautifully picked a wild pitch by Colin Holderman from the dirt. And then rifled it to Francisco Lindor at second base to get Berti and register the inning’s first out. This helped keep the Marlins from adding more than just the one run in the inning.

Then, in the bottom of the 10th, down 4-3 with two outs, all hope looked lost in Queens with the Marlins looking set to put a real black mark on a day of celebration. Luckily, Nido had other ideas and he emulated the man of the moment to swing the momentum firmly back in the favor of the Mets once again.

Hernandez was known for coming up in the clutch time and time again, and Nido did exactly that with a ground ball down the third-base line that snuck under the glove of Brian Anderson. It then allowed Mark Canha to score to make it a 4-4 game. It was an RBI double that sent Citi Field into a frenzy and set the stage for what would come next.

Granted, Nido’s clutch moment was aided by Anderson who somehow let the ball get by him, but it was still a big-time play from Nido who doesn’t normally steal the headlines. Add in the beautiful play in the top half of the inning, and the man who didn’t even start the game (entered in relief of an injured James McCann) was one of the main reasons why New York rallied for the victory.

“I don’t really know (how to explain the last inning), it happened so fast,” Nido said. “We’re never out of it, we always like our chances, especially with men on base. It went our way and we took advantage of it.”

Nido’s makeup as a player perhaps best illustrates the Mets’ approach in extra innings. It wasn’t pretty. but they found a way to get it done and they refused to be beat. Having gritty, under-the-radar players like Nido in the lineup is part of what has made the Mets so resilient this year.

And, once again, what shouldn’t go under the radar is the play Nido made in the top of the 10th inning. His pickoff of Jon Berti was instrumental in limiting the Marlins to just one run, and it laid the foundations for the Mets to be able to go and play hero ball in the bottom of the inning.

Nido also had a big role to play in the game’s final dramatic moment too. With Brandon Nimmo up and the game on the line, Nimmo hit what looked to be a routine comebacker to reliever Tanner Scott. It should have been a routine play but, instead, Scott whiffed on the ball and then overthrew it past first baseman Jesus Aguilar. This allowing Nido to score and walk the game off.

It is also worth noting that, before today, the last time the Mets won on a walk-off error with two outs in extra innings was in Game Six of the 1986 World Series. As if this day didn’t already have enough magic. It was as if the baseball Gods decided to perfectly gift wrap a present and send it down to mark Hernandez’s special day.

It all started with Nido’s ability to come up the clutch with all the pressure on, and the catcher always felt he had a chance to get on base and keep the game alive for the Mets.

“I saw that he (Anderson) wasn’t playing down the line so when I saw the ball going closer to the line I thought I had a chance, and he didn’t really attack the ball. I felt like I had a shot even if he caught it, so when I saw it going away from him, I knew something good was going to happen from there.”

Mets’ manager Buck Showalter, who was part of the pre-game ceremonies, also praised Nido for his heroics in extra winnings to help put a big win in the column for the Mets.

“We really wanted to try and figure out a way to win on Keith’s day, so the baseball gods shined on us,” Showalter said. “I thought Nido’s pickoff was huge and it kind of gets forgotten. Also the ground ball down the line underneath the glove.”

It isn’t often that Nido emerges as the hero for the Mets, but his clutch plays in the 10th inning really proved to be the difference. It also proved to be the perfect way to celebrate what was a special, special day at Citi Field. One that won’t soon be forgotten. And one that resembles the team’s run to a World Series title in 1986 so similarly.