The Mets win the first of three must-win games — and in impressive fashion. They chased Jack Flaherty, who bullied them in Game 1, and kept hammering away in a 12-6 victory, though the Dodgers offense still managed to score six runs.

Now the series goes back to Los Angeles, where a more favorable matchup awaits the Mets. The Dodgers could have rested Flaherty for Game 6 but opted to use him tonight, which means it will likely be a bullpen game against Sean Manaea, who had a great start in Game 2. And anything can happen in a Game 7.

Twenty-four hours after they looked all but defeated, the Mets have a path to a stunning comeback — their latest stunning comeback.

After riding Brent Honeywell for 4 2/3 innings, the Dodgers go to Anthony Banda to get their likely final out of the game. He gets it with a Jeff McNeil groundout.

The Mets have more runs, courtesy of Starling Marte's fourth hit of the game.

Diaz makes it look easy in the eighth.

It's indeed Edwin Diaz for the eighth and potentially the ninth inning. Whatever reason the Mets are using him in this spot, the top of the Dodgers order probably doesn't mind getting a look at him ahead of Game 6.

Francisco Lindor draws a leadoff walk, then starts hopping back and forth at first with Brandon Nimmo at the plate. He might have danced a little too much, as Honeywell picks him off for the first out of the bottom of the seventh.

The Dodgers go down in order in the top of the seventh and suddenly have only six outs to score six runs. Edwin Diaz is now warming, potentially for a two-inning appearance.

That might sound like the Mets being aggressive, but they also probably want to keep the closer warm. He hasn't pitched since Game 2, and you don't want him to go five days without pitching before Game 6.

The Mets get a little breathing room with a sacrifice fly from Jeff McNeil, set up by a Starling Marte double. Citi Field can breathe a little easier.

The Dodgers are keeping Brent Honeywell in for his third inning. They might be within a grand slam of a shocking comeback, but it looks like the bigger priority is still trying to preserve their top bullpen arms for Game 6.

INTERESTING ... Mookie Betts leads off the sixth inning with a homer off Ryne Stanek. This could be a tense few innings for Citi Field.

Brent Honeywell posts a 1-2-3, four-pitch fifth inning. If momentum exists, it's on the Dodgers' side now, but the question is if the target is already too far away.

Interesting ... Andy Pages hits his second home run of the day, with his second bat flip of the day, and this game just got closer. You'd still rather be in the Mets' position, but this isn't a casual day at the office anymore.

Kiké Hernández takes a 97.1 mph sinker to the right biceps from Reed Garrett and was definitely in some pain, but he stays in.

Some Citi Field fans enjoyed watching that after Honeywell's two HBPs.

The fun part for the Mets with this game is the rest of this series doesn't set up well for the Dodgers. Unless they want to start both Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on short rest in Games 6 and 7, it's going to be a bullpen game in Game 6 against Sean Manaea, who was awesome in Game 2.

And anything can happen in Game 7, which would be Buehler or Yamamoto vs. Luis Severino. This was a low-key important game for the Dodgers after they opted to start Flaherty rather than do the bullpen game today.

It's a full reverse of the score in Game 4 after a sac fly from Brandon Nimmo.

Brent Honeywell Jr. hits Tyrone Taylor, too. These definitely aren't intentional, but he's making no friends with the Mets today.

Jesse Winker hits a triple, and Pete Alonso huffs and puffs his way to score from first. Still no outs for the Mets in the bottom of the fourth. The Dodgers are just trying to get through this game without using any of their top relievers at this point.

Brent Honeywell Jr. takes over mop-up duty for Flaherty in the fourth. He hits Pete Alonso with a 93 mph fastball on his second pitch.

There goes for a big opportunity for the Dodgers. Freddie Freeman works the count full, then Reed Garrett just catches the outside corner with a curveball to limit the damage in the fourth to Pages' homer.

That could have been very bad for the Mets, but they are still up big in Game 5.

And then David Peterson walks Teoscar Hernandez to load the bases with two outs. The Mets pull him after 79 pitches (the first time he has thrown more than 50 since Sept. 29) and bring in Reed Garrett to face Freddie Freeman.

Shohei Ohtani follows with a bloop single and Mookie Betts with a walk. The Mets probably don't want to let the Dodgers back in this game.

Some lively discussion after the homer as well. Might have something to do with Pages flipping his bat.

Andy Pages doesn't care what the score is. The Dodgers rookie No. 9 hitter clubs a 418-foot homer to center field to cut the lead to six runs.

The third inning is over, with the Mets in full control after a five-run frame. The Dodgers offense scored more than eight runs yesterday, but they might just be ready to try to take this series at home.

One more from Brandon Nimmo. Considering how the Dodgers have approached every postseason game, it's impossible to not interpret them keeping Flaherty in as a white flag.

Francisco Lindor follows with a stand-up triple. The Mets are 7-for-15 with four walks against Jack Flaherty after going 2-for-22 against him in Game 1.

Francisco Alvarez adds another, and it's all Mets here at Citi Field. It looks like this series is going back to Los Angeles.

Anthony Banda was warming, but he has sat down in the bullpen. The Dodgers might just let Flaherty wear this, rather than work their bullpen with two elimination games likely on tap in Los Angeles.

This is getting bad in a hurry for the Dodgers. Starling Marte shoots a grounder down the third-base line and makes Flaherty pay for his two walks. Flaherty has faced 15 batters and allowed five hits, four walks and five runs.

Jack Flaherty has two swing-and-misses total through 14 batters. He allowed a leadoff walk to Pete Alonso in the third after going ahead 0-2 before Alonso held off two low curveballs and fouled off another well below the zone. Then Jesse Winker walks on four pitches.

Two on, none out for the Mets in third.

Simple enough inning for David Peterson in the top of the third — just one single from Tommy Edman.

He's at 52 pitches through three innings, which is the most he has thrown in an appearance all postseason. He hasn't thrown that many pitches since he was starting in the regular season.

A quiet mistake from Shohei Ohtani in the first.

Jack Flaherty works around the leadoff double to keep the second inning scoreless. In a must-win situation, the Dodgers might have already pulled him, but they might just want length from him at this point.

We'll see what they do when he reaches the third time through the order, but his four-seamer velocity is down two ticks at 91.2 mph.

Lindor then comes a few feet short of the right-field fence. Ten batters in, Flaherty has allowed fly balls or line drives with exit velocities of 103.8 mph, 98.4 mph, 90.1 mph, 113.6 mph, 98.8 mph and 104.7 mph. That's in addition to two walks.

And then Francisco Lindor comes a few degrees from clubbing a two-run homer down the right-field line. It flies just right of the foul pole, but this is some hard contact being allowed by Flaherty.

The Mets keep it going in the second inning with a double from Francisco Alvarez. It is at this point that you start to wonder how long Jack Flaherty will go today, considering how aggressive the Dodgers have been with their bullpen, but that unit has shouldered a big load so far this series

Mookie Betts popped out to end the top of the second inning. Lot of game left, but the Dodgers are now 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position against David Peterson.

Odd little plate appearance there for Ohtani. After watching the Dodgers' first run come in on his first pitch, he took a timeout because he appeared to have something in his eye, waved away the L.A. trainer, flailed at a 3-1 slider out of the zone, then drew his fourth walk in two games.

David Peterson spikes a fastball in his first pitch to Ohtani, and that scores a run. With how the L.A. offense has been operating, easy runs such as that are a killer.

The Dodgers have two baserunners again in the second after Andy Pages drops a single into the right-center gap. With two outs, here comes Shohei Ohtani.

The inning is over, but it looks like Jack Flaherty took a step back with his command from Game 1. He has thrown only 17 of his 32 pitches for strikes, and the Mets are chasing his breaking balls less when they're not hitting them into the stands. He allowed two hits total in Game 1 but three hits in the first inning tonight.

Alonso crushed a good pitch from Flaherty, too. That was a slider dropping out of the zone, but Alonso reached down and hit it 432 feet. Not a lot of hitters can do that, but multi-time Home Run Derby champs can.

That's a good start! Pete Alonso gets his first RBI of the series with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. After failing to score a run against Jack Flaherty in Game 1, the Mets are on the board and then some after four batters.

Citi Field was ready to go berserk when Mark Vientos hit a deep fly ball, but it lands short of the warning track. One out down for Flaherty, now comes Pete Alonso.

Just like David Peterson, Jack Flaherty is in some trouble in the first. He walked Brandon Nimmo to give the Mets two on with none out.