Mets’ winning streak snapped at nine games as Reds rally late; Braves tie them in wild-card standings

NEW YORK — The Mets’ winning streak is over.

Gone, too, is their sole possession of a National League playoff spot.

A Sunday afternoon of close calls ended with a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field, snapping the Mets’ nine-game winning streak and allowing the Braves to tie them for the third and final NL wild-card position.

Santiago Espinal’s two-run double against Mets reliever Phil Maton broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth and proved to be the game-winner.

The clutch hit served as a dagger six innings after the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo crushed what he believed to be a two-run home run over the right-field foul pole.

The second-deck blast was ruled foul, however, and the call stood after an umpire review, preserving a scoreless tie in the third. It was the second game in a row in which a borderline Nimmo drive was called foul.

“The last two days, it’s gone above the foul pole, and it’s really hard to tell,” Nimmo said. “Where the one landed today, I really thought it was fair.”

Nimmo joked he would be willing to pitch in to raise the foul pole, while manager Carlos Mendoza agreed with the need to extend the pole.

“I couldn’t tell from the dugout [if it was fair],” Mendoza said. “It was close.”

The Mets (78-65) managed only four hits against six Reds pitchers, including rookie Julian Aguiar, who held them scoreless over 4 2/3 innings in his fifth career start.

Francisco Lindor finished 0 for 4, ending his on-base streak at 35 games, a franchise record for a single season.

“We missed a few things by just a few inches,” Nimmo said. “Obviously, the home run. Even a few guys hit some hard line drives [that were caught]. … That’s baseball. It’s gonna happen sometimes.”

The Mets’ offensive shortcomings squandered the latest strong start by Luis Severino, who limited the Reds to one run over 6 2/3 innings and struck out eight.

Severino held the Reds hitless through four innings. Cincinnati’s Jake Fraley broke up the no-hit bid with a bloop double to lead off the fifth, and Espinal followed with a bloop single that put runners on the corners with no outs.

That’s when Severino dialed in.

He picked off Espinal with a quick throw to first, then struck out a swinging Noelvi Marte with an 86-mph sweeper. Four pitches later, he rocketed a 98-mph fastball past Will Benson to preserve a scoreless tie.

After that second strikeout, an amped-up Severino turned his back to home plate, pumped both fists and unleashed a rapturous roar.

Starling Marte put the Mets up, 1-0, with a sixth-inning RBI single, but Cincinnati answered in the seventh when Noelvi Marte’s two-out RBI single knocked Severino out of the game.

Severino exited to a loud ovation but with a no-decision.

“We have a good team, and we showed that after being [11 games below .500 on May 29], and now being in the situation that we are in,” said Severino, who boasts a 1.95 ERA over his last five starts.

“At least we’re winning series,” he said. “That’s important.”

Acquired in a July trade with Tampa Bay, Maton entered Sunday with a 1.74 ERA over 23 appearances with the Mets. He suffered his first loss since the trade, however, after plunking Spencer Steer to begin the ninth, surrendering a single to Ty France and hanging a curveball on Espinal’s one-out double.

“I think he was a little off,” Mendoza said.

The Mets trailed the Braves by four games for the last wild-card spot on Aug. 28, then began their nine-game winning streak. They started Sunday a game ahead of the Braves, but Atlanta (78-65) beat the Blue Jays in 11 innings to knot up the standings.

Sunday’s loss ended the Mets’ longest winning streak since 2018. It was two wins shy of the franchise record.

The Mets will look to begin a new streak Monday night in Toronto, where they are set to begin a three-game series.

“Streaks have to come to an end, but we’ve been playing really good baseball and we’re gonna continue to try and do that on this road trip,” Nimmo said. “It’s really been all coming together: pitching, hitting and good defense, too. … If we keep doing that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

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