Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz deliver a heroic bullpen performance to force Game 6 of the NLCS

NEW YORK – The countdown begins in the first inning, in a bullpen fully aware of the challenge ahead.

“How,” Drew Smith wondered, “can we get 27 outs?”

Getting 27 outs in a postseason game is always a bear. It can be overwhelming to go against this relentless Los Angeles Dodgers lineup that doesn't play on pitches outside the zone.

Are you doing it with a tired and ineffective bullpen? Sisyphus feels for you.

And yet here the New York Mets were late Friday night, their bags packed and their buses heading to the airport and another cross-country flight to Los Angeles. The Mets extended their season with a 12-6 win over the Dodgers that seemed more exciting than the lead. Game 6 of this National League Championship Series is scheduled for Sunday night at Chavez Ravine.

“It’s something we’ve done all year,” starter David Peterson said. “We go down there, keep showing up and competing.”

After Game 4 on Thursday night, Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz returned from the bullpen together, neither of whom appeared in another lopsided loss. The Mets had used every other player in that stadium for more than three outs the previous two nights. You could do the math.

“We joked, 'You have two (innings) and I have two,'” Stanek said. “So we really expected it.”

It turns out they underestimated.

Because with 13 outs to go in a 10-5 game, Carlos Mendoza pulled Reed Garrett. He walked Stanek to face Shohei Ohtani in the fifth inning, and Stanek knew no one but Díaz was behind him.

Last week, Stanek passionately pointed out an overlooked aspect of Sean Manaea's Game 3 victory over the Phillies in the NLDS. Manaea had induced a huge double play in the bottom of the sixth inning, which felt like it might be the end of his performance. Instead, he came back for the seventh and eighth times to save New York's bullpen.

“I don’t know if the fans at home or in the stands appreciate it enough,” he said. “It's so hard to find that emotional release, to go out again and still keep yourself under control.

“It's hard to ask more of him – and he did. That was great. Those are the things that excite me.”

That's exactly what Stanek did on Friday.

On 31 pitches, Ryne Stanek pitched 2 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

The 33-year-old has played eight seasons in the major leagues. Friday marked his 430th major league appearance; It is the first time he has scored a seventh goal in a game. As a rookie in 2017, he had only been asked to pitch beyond three innings once before. (At the time, he allowed the only three batters he faced in that third inning to reach him.)

But he struck out Ohtani in the fifth, recovered from a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the sixth and retired the team in order in the seventh. When Gavin Lux made his 31st throw, he didn't wait for Jeff McNeil to catch him before he barked toward the dugout, finally ready for that emotional release.

“It’s a cool feeling,” he said Friday. “Knowing that the job isn't about one, two or four, you try to hold back for that lull. You try to keep the keel as even as possible and let it slide.”

“He’s great,” Brandon Nimmo said. “That's what we ask of everyone: to go beyond what we've done before and be able to deliver. He did it and more.”

From then on, it was Díaz's turn. He had gone to the bullpen an inning early and started stretching an inning early. He threw his first warmup pitch in the seventh while Stanek was in the game. Coming into the eighth pitch, he knew the final six outs were his and that there was no support in the pen.

He looked his best this month, but six of the seven Dodgers he faced struck out, needing just 23 pitches.

“We definitely needed every opportunity,” Smith said. “You get them any way you can.”

The Mets counted a whopping 27 outs on Friday. Now they just have to count on two more wins.

“We haven’t done anything easy this year,” Stanek said. “Why stop now?

“We can beat them,” Díaz said. “It starts in Manaea on Sunday. We can beat them.”

(Top photo of Edwin Díaz and Francisco Alvarez: Al Bello / Getty Images)