NEW YORK _ There is a toll to pay for stopping hearts and starting them again, as the Mets had done so often the night before. Survival saps energy, a commodity so precious after 154 games. So the Mets could be forgiven for looking haggard on Friday night, when their status in a tense wild-card race hinged upon their hollowed-out shell of a bullpen.
That they emerged as 10-5 victors over the Phillies only added to the mounting evidence that while they might not have enough healthy bodies for a serious run in October, they are not lacking in fortitude.
Starter Gabriel Ynoa lasted just two innings on a night in which the bullpen was missing closer Jeurys Familia and setup man Addison Reed. Nevertheless, the Mets won behind five relievers, some of whom have been barely used.
Again, the Mets will take the sins of the previous night into their game Saturday, when fill-in starter Sean Gilmartin will step in as scheduled starter Noah Syndergaard battles strep throat. He will do with a bullpen that was forced to soak up seven innings.
But for their troubles, the Mets at least emerged with a victory. They began the day tied with the Giants for two wild card spots. The Cardinals lost earlier in the day, and now trail the Mets by 11/2 games.
Michael Conforto hammered a three-run shot, his first homer since Aug. 7, to key a six-run fifth inning that the Mets used to seize control. For the second straight night, the Phillies bullpen crumbled and the Mets took advantage.
Jay Bruce's struggles opened the door for Conforto to see time in right field. He entered play hitting just .208 since returning to the roster on Sept. 1. But Conforto's homer electrified the Mets on a night in which they needed production from every corner of their expanded roster.
By the end of the 3-hour, 40-minute slog, manager Terry Collins had used 21 players after requiring a franchise-record 27 the night before.
First baseman Lucas Duda collected a single in his first start since coming off the disabled list. T.J. Rivera and Eric Campbell, a duo that spent much of the summer at Triple-A Las Vegas, each came off the bench to deliver run-scoring singles.
During the Mets' fifth-inning uprising, Curtis Granderson blooped an RBI single with the bases loaded. When Kelly Johnson followed with one of his own, Phillies right fielder Roman Quinn couldn't retrieve the ball cleanly, gifting the Mets another run.
With eight games left in the season, it was a reminder of one of the few breaks that the Mets have caught with their postseason fate still in the air. The schedule provides a measure of forgiveness, with the Phillies on the slate five more times.
By the eighth inning, the Mets had enough of a lead to rest shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who had remained in the game after suffering yet another injury.
The veteran shortstop has played through a balky left knee all season long. So in another cruel twist, he was stunned in the fifth when he fouled a ball off his right knee, his good knee. But the win eased some of the sting in a game swayed by a bold decision in the second.
"We've got to get some innings out of Ynoa tonight," Collins said of his starter before the game. "Hopefully he can do what he did the other day and get us to the fifth or into the fifth, so we don't blow our bullpen out."
But when Ynoa allowed a pair of runs on four hits in the second inning, Collins wasted no time. Even with a taxed bullpen, and a spot starter slated for Saturday, the righty was pulled when his turn came up in the order.
It was the right move. Logan Verrett allowed a homer to the first batter he saw but stabilized the Mets in his two innings. Josh Smoker followed by allowing a pair of runs, but Erik Goeddel tossed 11/3 scoreless innings.
In the seventh, Hansel Robles slammed the door, getting Cody Asche to bounce into a double play to end a bases-loaded threat.
