Shortstop Hanley Ramirez ran to the mound and placed his left arm around Leo Nuñez. The closer was in need of comfort. It was the top of the ninth, the Marlins held a 5-4 lead, and the weights of a game and a season were bearing down on Nuñez's narrow shoulders.

The first two Mets hitters had already reached on singles, and the third was about to draw a walk and load the bases.

``Calm down,'' Ramirez said he told Nuñez.

But the burden proved too much to bear.

Cory Sullivan singled to left, scoring the tying and go-ahead runs, and the Marlins dropped a 6-5 decision that felt like a shot to the gut.

What the Marlins have done to the Mets the past two seasons -- crush them at the end of the season with devastating losses -- the Mets did to them on Friday.

The Mets, who threw in the towel on their season weeks ago and had lost 13 of their previous 16 games entering Friday, came up with a crucial run in the eighth and two more in the ninth to pull out the win.

A Dan Uggla fielding error led to the run in the eighth.

A Nuñez meltdown in the ninth brought the hammer down full force.

``It's going to be tough to bounce back,'' said reliever Brendan Donnelly, who was on in the eighth. ``We have are backs against the wall.''

The Marlins fell to five games behind Colorado in the National League wild-card race, remained seven games in back of Philadelphia in the division race and, with only eight games left on the schedule, are less than thin on hope.

``When you've got nine games left and you've got to win 'em all, it's a loss and the hill gets a little steeper,'' said manager Fredi Gonzalez.

The Marlins shouldn't be losing to the Mets, that's for sure. And it appeared they would take the first game of the series in front of an announced crowd of 39,031, which was the third-largest this season.

The Mets jumped on top in the second when Carlos Beltran singled, Daniel Murphy doubled and Jeff Francoeur clubbed a three-run home run to left. Other than that one blemished frame, however, Nolasco was close to perfect.

Nolasco retired the side in order in five of the seven innings he worked, gave up only one other hit -- an infield single to Angel Pagan in the sixth -- walked one and struck out seven.

Despite Nolasco's strong performance, the Marlins had a tough time early with Tim Redding. The veteran defeated them in New York last month -- one of only nine wins for the Mets in their previous 34 games -- and had them on the ropes for four innings Friday.

But the Marlins broke through in the fifth.

RAMIREZ TIES IT

After Cameron Maybin opened the inning with a single and Nick Johnson drew a two-out walk, Hanley Ramirez hit a first-pitch home run -- his 24th of the season -- to tie it.

The Marlins took a 5-3 lead in the seventh on Jorge Cantu's two-run double.

But a critical error by Uggla led to a Mets run in the eighth.

Uggla booted Brian Schneider's ground ball to start the inning, Pagan bunted his way on, and Luis Castillo advanced the two runners with a sacrifice bunt.

UNUSUAL PLAY

Then came an unusual play that helped and hurt both teams. David Wright swung at a 3-2 pitch from Donnelly that got past Ronny Paulino. Schneider raced home run from third.

But was the ball foul-tipped?

Donnelly thought so, and ran toward the plate trying to convince umpire Bill Hohn that Wright had fouled off the pitch. But Hohn said the ball never touched Wright's bat, and that angered Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

Manuel would have preferred to have Wright at the plate with one out and runners at second and third than have a run in with two outs and Carlos Beltran at the plate.

The manager didn't get his wish, and Donnelly struck out Beltran to end the inning. But the Marlins wouldn't be as fortunate in the ninth.

Murphy and Francoeur each singled to start the inning and Jeremy Reed walked on four pitches to load the bases. That brought up Sullivan, who delivered the pinch-hit single that put the finishing touch on a devastating loss for the Marlins.

``It's the hardest three outs to get during the course of the game,'' Gonzalez said of the ninth.

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