The real showdown might come in October, but for now, the Mets will have to settle for taking the season series against the team with the best record in baseball. 

In the rubber match of both their three-game series and seven-game regular-season series, the Mets pulled away late against the Dodgers bullpen for a 5-3 win on Thursday at Citi Field. 

The Mets (84-48) pushed across two runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, added two more runs in the seventh and then survived a rare scare from Edwin Diaz in the eighth to take two of three from the Dodgers (90-40). 

“It’s a big series,” said Francisco Lindor, who enjoyed a strong all-around game. “We’re just happy we ended up taking the series. 

“It means we played good baseball against them. That’s all it is. Hopefully we can make it to the postseason and if we face them in the postseason, hopefully we can do the same thing.” 

Lindor and Starling Marte combined for four hits, three runs and two RBIs as the Mets remained three games ahead of the Braves atop NL East. Lindor notched the game-tying double in the sixth, stole a base that allowed him to score the go-ahead run and added a fine defensive play up the middle to get the Mets out of a potential jam in the fifth. 

Chris Bassitt delivered six innings of two-run ball, continuing the Mets’ strong starting pitching against the Dodgers’ dangerous lineup. In the series, Taijuan Walker, Jacob deGrom and Bassitt combined to give up just six runs across 18 ¹/₃ innings. 

“You have to match their pitching, and our guys did,” manager Buck Showalter said. 

On Thursday, that meant Clayton Kershaw, who walked three in the first inning to give up a run before going on to retire 13 straight batters through the fifth inning. But in his first start back from the injured list, the left-hander was limited to just 74 pitches, leaving after five innings with a 2-1 lead. 

The Mets quickly pounced on right-hander Chris Martin in the sixth. Marte led off by hustling out an infield single and came around to score the tying run on Lindor’s double. 

“He’s one of those special well-rounded players that can beat you in so many ways,” Showalter said of Lindor, who went 5-for-10 in the series. 

Then with one out, the slumping Darin Ruf stayed in the game to hit for himself. Showalter initially had the left-handed hitting Daniel Vogelbach on deck but decided to stick with Ruf to avoid the Dodgers bringing in a lefty and to give Lindor a better chance to steal third with the right-handed hitting Ruf in the box. 

Lindor came through, by stealing third, and so did Ruf, by lifting a sacrifice fly to left field for the 3-2 Mets lead. 

The Dodgers then gifted the Mets a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. After James McCann roped a double to left-center field — his third hard-hit ball of the day — Brandon Nimmo’s bloop to shallow right field fell in between Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to make it 4-2. 

Marte followed with a single to score Nimmo from second for the 5-2 Mets lead. 

With the heart of the Dodgers’ order due up in the eighth inning, Showalter went to Diaz early. The normally dominant closer may have given the 36,908 in attendance heartburn by allowing the first two batters to reach and then giving up a pair of deep fly balls to Max Muncy and Justin Turner. But both stayed in the park, with the latter going for a sacrifice fly to bring the Dodgers within 5-3. 

Adam Ottavino then had a much calmer ninth inning, striking out a pair on the way to his third save of the season. 

“It’s hard to beat us because we can beat you in a lot of ways,” said Bassitt, who downplayed the significance of the series win because it is still the regular season. “But I just think it’s more so the team chemistry we have and what they’ve built here.”