The Mets' starting pitchers really showed their strength in the second half of the season, leading the team at times with an offense that was one of the best in the major leagues.
The bullpen hasn't gotten much attention, but it's constantly evolving, at times frustrating and at other times, and yet it looked just good enough on Wednesday.
The seventh straight win hinged on five strong innings from the Mets' relief pitchers, who were ecstatic to beat the Red Sox in front of a crowd of 26,270, pitching five scoreless innings to clinch the series with an 8-3 victory.
The Mets (76-64) have been winning with star players in every area of the team and have yet to pull away from the Braves for the third wild card spot.
Jesse Winker barely managed to hit a grand slam in the first inning, and that was all the runs the Mets needed and would get until they scored four more runs in the eighth inning.
Bases-loaded walks by Tyrone Taylor (against Kenley Jansen), Jeff McNeil (against Rich Hill) and Francisco Alvarez (against Hill) plus a sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader provided insurance late in the innings.
After Tyler Megill (four innings, three runs allowed in three innings) left the game, five Mets relief pitchers held off Boston hitters to tie the Mets' winning streak this season.
Alex Young, Huascar Brazovan, Danny Young, Phil Matton and Edwin Diaz were not particularly dominant but were decisive.
The bullpen consistently induced the necessary ground balls, and at one point the team got out of three consecutive jams with inning-ending double plays.
Young replaced Megill in the fifth inning and put a runner on first base. He advanced to second on a single by Jarren Duran, but Young induced a double play by Rafael Devers on a ground ball to get the win.
In the sixth inning, Brazovan found himself in a pinch with a runner on second base.
But the right-hander watched as Triston Casas hit a grounder to center field and Francisco Lindor stepped on the base and threw it to first base to end the inning.
In the next inning, Connor Wong singled against Brazovan, who left the game with one out, and Young drove in a sinker with a full count to get Romy Gonzalez into a third double play.
Young got two outs in the eighth inning and struck out Devers for a mocking performance, but then Maton dug himself a hole and started to climb out.
Two singles put runners on first and second with two outs and the tying runner 90 feet away, but Maton let out a huge cheer and a sigh of relief as Yoshida hit a liner to Lindor.
Diaz recorded the final three outs to prevent a rough but solid Red Sox victory (70-70).
The Mets defense also helped, preventing a double play and getting Alvarez to tag out the runner on first base.
Their offense did all the damage it needed with the first five batters.
Lindor (single), Brandon Nimmo (walk) and Mark Vientos (single) loaded the bases in the first inning. After Pete Alonso struck out, Winker hit a grand slam that just cleared the wall and hit the left-center field fence.
Thriving in the absence of J.D. Martinez, who is on the paternity list, Winker is batting .306 with three homers and 13 RBIs since being traded at the deadline and is doing exactly what the Mets need him to do: break down right-handed pitching.
