Mets Snap 5-Game Losing Streak Behind Kevin Pillar's 12th Inning Homer To Avoid Getting Swept By Giants

The Mets showed signs of life to get out of San Francisco by avoiding a sweep on Wednesday.

After Jeurys Familia blew a save in the bottom of the 11th, Kevin Pillar delivered the big hit the Mets had been so desperate for against his former team, with a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the 12th to put them ahead.

With a fast turnaround on Wednesday afternoon in their series finale with the Giants, the Mets came back in the ninth inning to tie it, before taking the lead twice in extras to ultimately steal a 6-2 victory to avoid the sweep and snap their five-game losing streak.

The Mets are now back to .500 at 60-60 on the season, and barring the outcome of the Braves and Phillies' games tonight, the Amazins' could find themselves 3.5 games back in the NL East.

With the Mets' offense looking lifeless for much of the contest, their bats woke up in the top of the ninth to tie the game against Giants closer Jake McGee on J.D. Davis' sacrifice-fly.

The Mets wasted a strong performance from Tylor Megill, who tossed six innings of one-run baseball, while striking out six. However, the bats came up big when trailing 1-0 and down to their final three outs.

Although the Mets tied it up at 1-1, they couldn't take the lead in the ninth. This saw closer Edwin Diaz handle the bottom half, where he tossed a quick seven-pitch, 1-2-3 inning.

As a result, the Mets found themselves playing in extra innings for the third time in the last six games.

In the top of the 10th with the go-ahead run on second to start the inning, Jonathan Villar got thrown out at third on Patrick Mazeika's sac-bunt attempt. This brought Kevin Pillar to the plate, who cranked a shot to the left field wall, but was robbed by LaMonte Wade on a leaping catch.

After Brandon Nimmo singled to keep the inning alive, Jeff McNeil grounded out to send the game to the bottom of the 10th.

This allowed Diaz, whose spot in the order was looming on deck, to stay on for the bottom half instead of being subbed out for a pinch-hitter. And albeit the Giants moving the go-ahead run to third with one-out on a fly ball, before Diaz hit Austin Slater with a pitch, the right-hander got out of a jam with a pop out and fly out to send the game to the 11th.

In the following inning, Travis Blankenhorn moved the go-ahead run over to third, and that's when Michael Conforto smoked a clutch double off Tyler Chatwood to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

This set things up for Familia in the bottom of the 11th, who came in to try to secure the win with a one-run lead. But the right-hander gave up the lead to the first batter, as Tommy La Stella tied the game at 2-2 on an RBI single. Luckily, he was able to strand the go-ahead run in scoring position, which saw the game go to 12 innings.

In the top of the 12th, Villar slashed what initially looked like the go-ahead hit, but the call was ultimately reversed, as it was ruled foul upon review. After Mazeika reached on an infield single, Pillar got all of one, smashing a three-run homer off Chatwood to put the Mets back up 5-2.

But the Mets weren't finished there, as Jeff McNeil laced a two-out double, and newcomer Chance Sisco launched an RBI double on the first pitch he saw as a Met to extend the lead to 6-2. This proved to be one of the Mets' biggest offensive innings of the season.

Jake Reed then came on to once again try to secure the win for the Mets with a four-run lead. And Reed got the job done by setting the Giants down 1-2-3.

"Much-needed hit at a big time and the boys are excited," said Pillar, who played hero in the Mets' series finale victory. "I think we have a little momentum and got the monkey off of our back a little bit."

"We haven't been playing our best baseball and we needed a win," said Pillar. "We were in games and we had opportunities to win and we couldn't finish. To see the scoreboard at the end of the game and it says 'The Mets win,' it feels good."

Manager Luis Rojas was also glad to see Pillar come through in the clutch.

"It was huge, huh? We know he is a clutch player, veteran hitter that will find a pitch and he did it in this at-bat," said Rojas. "KP is a guy that can be clutch for us."

"We want to keep this offense going. This is something that we have got to keep doing. Every win can get you going. You go back and win tomorrow and then the confidence level is higher."

On a day that saw team owner Steve Cohen blast the Mets' hitters on Twitter for being 'unproductive,' the Amazins' woke up late with all six of their runs coming in the ninth inning or later.

The Mets were able to avoid back-to-back sweeps with one of their biggest wins of the year.

"I think I made it clear that we heard the message," said Rojas of Cohen's tweet. "I'm not saying this is an immediate response, but we are working to turn it around."

Pillar also seemed to agree with Rojas that the team understood where Cohen was coming from.

"He’s a passionate owner, he wants to see the best from us, he expects more out of us, I think we all expect a lot out of each other," Pillar said. "I think we came out with the right attitude today."

In what started off as another unproductive game for the offense, the Mets seemingly caught a break when Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani exited the game after just 1.1 innings due to an ankle injury. However, San Francisco's bullpen held them in check, following DeSclafani's exit, and the Mets did not pickup their second hit until the top of the sixth.

The Giants' bullpen retired 15 of the first 17 batters they faced until Villar reached on an infield single in the top of the seventh.

As for the Mets, Megill's lone blip came in the top of the third, when the Giants ripped off three straight hits, which ended with an RBI double from LaMonte Wade, to give San Francisco a 1-0 lead.

Miguel Castro and Trevor May combined to toss two scoreless innings in relief, which gave the Mets a chance in the top of the ninth with their heart of the order up.

After getting the tying run on first base via a hit by pitch, Michael Conforto produced a single that sent Pete Alonso to third base with nobody out. And that's when Davis' sac-fly tied the game at 1-1.