Pete Alonso's 10th-inning sacrifice fly Tuesday night lifted the host New York Mets to an eventful 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

The teams have split the first two games of the four-game series.

With their No. 5 starter Jason Vargas and his 7.20 ERA on the mound, the Mets were underdogs heading into Tuesday's game against the Reds and their Opening Day starter Luis Castillo, who took a major league-leading 1.23 ERA to the hill.

But the Mets carried a 3-1 lead into the ninth and were one out from a relatively stress-free win when the Reds rallied for two runs against Jeurys Familia, who was entrusted with a six-out save opportunity with closer Edwin Diaz unavailable after pitching the previous three days.

Familia issued a four-pitch walk to Jesse Winker before giving up three straight singles, the last two of which were RBI hits by pinch hitter Kyle Farmer and second baseman Jose Peraza. After Daniel Zamora walked Joey Votto to load the bases, Drew Gagnon escaped the jam by striking out Eugenio Suarez.

The Reds stranded two in the 10th against Gagnon (1-0) before J.D. Davis began the game-winning rally with a double off Raisel Iglesias (1-4) to cap a 10-pitch at-bat. Jeff McNeil followed with a single for his fourth hit before Alonso flew out to the track in right.

Vargas carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth, along with a 1-0 lead thanks to McNeil's two-out RBI bunt single in the third. But the 36-year-old's chances of earning the win disappeared when he was pulled after giving up a game-tying homer to Suarez with one out in the sixth.

The 5 1/3 innings were a season high for Vargas, who gave up three hits and three walks while striking out five. He has a 1.93 ERA in his last three starts spanning 14 innings.

The Mets put Castillo in position to absorb the loss when Todd Frazier, who spent the first five seasons of his career with the Reds, homered on Castillo's first pitch of the seventh. New York extended its lead to 3-1 in the eighth, when McNeil doubled and scored on Michael Conforto's two-out single.

Castillo allowed two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out seven over 6 2/3 innings.

--Field Level Media