Orange rally towels — of the same shade as Pete Alonso’s Playoff Pumpkin — twirled throughout Citi Field on Tuesday as Sean Manaea departed the mound in the eighth inning.
The left-hander blew a kiss to the sky and disappeared into the first-base dugout.
The Mets were rolling in large part because of Manaea, and the acknowledgement from the sellout crowd of 44,093 was warranted following maybe his best performance yet with the team and certainly on the biggest stage.
Manaea mastered the Phillies with one run allowed over seven innings, carrying the Mets to a 7-2 victory in Game 3 of the NLDS.
One victory separates the Mets from the National League Championship Series, and there are two roads to arrive there.
The easy road would entail beating the Phillies in Game 4 on Wednesday and enjoying downtime before heading to the West Coast to face the Dodgers or Padres.
The harder route means losing Wednesday and needing to win a Game 5 back in Philadelphia.
Manaea allowed only three hits and struck out six with two walks and two hit batters over seven-plus innings and 91 pitches.
It was the best outing by a Mets starting pitcher this postseason and alleviated the pressure on a bullpen that was bloodied in a Game 2 loss on Sunday.
Manager Carlos Mendoza allowed Manaea to return to the mound for the eighth after seven shutout innings.
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But after Edmundo Sosa reached on an infield single leading off the inning, Manaea was removed.
Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek combined to get three outs in the inning with two runs scoring.
Alonso homered leading off the second to produce the game’s first run.
Alonso’s blast was his sixth in 51 career at-bats against Aaron Nola, his most facing any pitcher, and his third in four games beginning with Thursday’s go-ahead shot in Milwaukee that helped the Mets clinch the NL Wild Card Series.
Jesse Winker’s homer with two outs in the fourth gave the Mets a 2-0 lead.
home run during the second inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
In his previous at-bat, Winker just missed clearing the right-field fence, with Nick Castellanos racing to the wall for the catch.
But in the fourth, Winker left no doubt after jumping on a 2-1 fastball.
The Phillies threatened against Manaea in the third: Sosa was plunked and Trea Turner delivered a two-out single.
But Manaea escaped the threat by getting Bryce Harper on a comebacker.
Manaea got defensive help in the fourth, when Tyrone Taylor threw out Alec Bohm attempting to stretch a single into a double.
Manaea celebrated as he left the mound in the sixth, after Castellanos’ line drive to Jose Iglesias became an inning-ending double play.
Manaea walked Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner in succession to begin the inning, but struck out Harper before Schwarber was caught off second on Castellanos’ liner.
Starling Marte stroked a two-run single in the sixth that widened the gap to 4-0.
Mark Vientos singled leading off the inning and Brandon Nimmo and Alonso walked in succession to load the bases, ending Nola’s outing.
Orion Kerkering entered and got two outs without a run scoring, but Marte delivered.
Manaea responded by retiring the side in order in the seventh, including a strikeout of Austin Hays to end the inning.
Iglesias gave the Mets a cushion by swatting a two-run single in the bottom of the inning that extended the lead to 6-0. Vientos singled in the inning and Nimmo and Alonso each walked to load the bases.
Harper and Castellanos each delivered an RBI single in the eighth to pull the Phillies within 6-2.
Francisco Lindor — playing his first home game in exactly a month following a back injury and the team’s extended road trip — extended the Mets’ lead by smashing an RBI double in the eighth.