The New York Mets eked out an 8-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night at Citizens' Bank Park (box score).

With the win, the Mets took the three-game series and at 11-11 pulled into a first-place tie with the 12-12 Washington Nationals atop the National League East standings.

After home runs from Andrew McCutchen and Didi Gregorius and a strong start from Zach Elfin, the Phillies led 4-2 going into the eighth inning, which gave them an 87 percent chance of winning the rubber game of the series. .

One out later, Jose Peraza slapped a single to right side, and Villar took advantage of an inattentive and frustrated Rhys Hoskins and conjured up one of the most impressive hustle plays of the still young season.

At that point, Girardi turned to Jose Alvarado, who was available only because he appealed his three-game suspension for touching off a benches-clearing incident in Friday night's game against the Mets.

Alvarado allowed the first three batters he faced to reach, which gave the Mets a 5-4 lead.

That made it 8-4 Mets and gave the Mets a 97 percent chance of winning the game.

The Phillies went quietly in the eighth, but in the ninth they began mounting a threat against Mets closer Edwin Diaz.

Umpires originally ruled that this was a home run for Rhys Hoskins, which would've tied the game

It takes a special confluence of miseries for a team to out-Mets the Mets, but, by golly, the Phillies managed to do just that on Sunday night

For now, the Mets are riding high, and the Phillies are absorbing one of the most peculiar and painful losses anyone's suffered this season.