LOS ANGELES — If this series between National League heavyweights determined anything, there isn’t an obvious top gun. 

The Dodgers are a very good team. The Mets are right there with them. Maybe more clarity will emerge when the teams reconvene in late August for a possible postseason preview. 

On Sunday, the Mets displayed the late-inning grit that has largely defined their season in rallying for a 5-4 victory in 10 innings at Dodger Stadium to finish with a split in the four-game series. 

“Hopefully the test is more so at the end of the year,” J.D. Davis said after driving in the go-ahead run with a 10th-inning double against Craig Kimbrel. “I think this was more of a quiz and we weren’t at full strength. We didn’t have [Jacob] deGrom, we didn’t have [Max] Scherzer. We didn’t have our starting shortstop [Francisco Lindor] for a game because he hurt his finger. Just to come out here and get a split says a lot about our team.” 

This one included more drama than the Mets would have preferred, as Seth Lugo surrendered a homer to Will Smith and a game-tying RBI single to Eddy Alvarez. The Mets regained the lead in the 10th inning on Davis’ RBI double that scored the automatic runner. Adonis Medina got the final three outs for the Mets, stranding the automatic runner at third and the winning run at second. 

“It felt like a playoff atmosphere,” Eduardo Escobar said. “We obviously know what type of team the Dodgers are, but at the same time we have respect for every other team. We also know that we are a good team as well.” 

Buck Showalter went for the kill in the eighth, summoning a well-rested Edwin Diaz to face the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. The Mets closer responded, working a perfect inning against Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner. The gamble looked good until the Dodgers began a rally against Lugo in the ninth that included Smith’s homer and a double by Chris Taylor before Alavrez’s single tied it. 

The Mets kept it close for seven innings and then pounced in the eighth, scoring three times to take a 4-2 lead. Pete Alonso smoked an RBI double against Brusdar Graterol to tie it before Escobar’s sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run. Tomas Nido’s RBI single brought in another. 

Francisco Lindor ignited the eighth-inning rally with a leadoff double before the sizzling Alonso delivered for his 54th RBI in 56 games this season. Alonso hit three homers in the previous two games and drove in six runs. 

“[The Dodgers] are a really good team and I am really proud of our guys battling back after the first couple of games,” Showalter said. 

Next stop for the Mets is San Diego for three games against a dangerous Padres team. This West Coast trip will conclude with three games against the Angels next weekend. The Mets own the NL’s best record at 37-19, with the Dodgers right behind them at 35-19. 

A day after the Mets battered Walker Buehler, they hardly touched lefty Julio Urias, who surrendered one run on three hits and three walks over 5 ¹/₃ innings. The performance was on par with what the Dodgers received from Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson in the first two games of the series. Starling Marte’s solo homer in the third accounted for the Mets’ only run against Urias. 

Turner’s two-run blast in the first inning set a bad tone for the Mets, but Trevor Williams — with help from his defense — avoided trouble over the next four innings. Brandon Nimmo’s leaping catch at the left-center fence in the third was one defensive highlight. In the fourth, Escobar ranged behind third base to field Justin Turner’s chopper and unleashed a perfect throw to first for the out. 

Williams allowed two singles in the fifth, but rebounded to strike out Trea Turner with a fastball on his final pitch of the afternoon. 

“In the back of your mind, you hope Trea Turner doesn’t get three hits off of you,” Williams said. “The odds are in my favor that he’s going to get out. I was just attacking with a strength of mine that I was feeling that inning and I was thankful I could execute it.”