Mets' Dom Smith gets walk-off hit in eighth inning  in Game 1 before Phillies gain split with eight-inning win in Game 2

First, the good for the Mets: Tom Seaver’s 51-year-old record bent but did not break — or get broken. And the Mets came back to win Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader in walk-off fashion despite a masterful performance by the Phillies’ Aaron Nola.

And then the less good news: They flubbed it in the encore.

Although Nola matched Seaver’s MLB record with 10 consecutive strikeouts, he did not exceed it, and though the Mets were down to their final out in Game 1 of their doubleheader, they did not crack.

Francisco Lindor’s two-out RBI single in the seventh tied it and Dominic Smith lined a clean single to centerfield to drive in the bonus runner in the eighth as the Mets scraped together a 2-1 win at Citi Field.

And though Game 2 looked remarkably similar — down to the Mets tying it in the seventh on James McCann’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly — a couple of misadventures allowed the Phillies to pull ahead in the eighth of their 2-1 win.

Game 2’s winning run came home thanks to two split-second decisions. With a runner at second, Brad Miller hit a ground ball to Lindor, who appeared as if he could have gotten the out at third but chose to play it safe at first. The next batter, Odubel Herrera, hit a shot to third, and though Luis Guillorme made a nice grab, he muffed the transfer and had no choice but to get the out at first as the go-ahead run scored.

With the ghost runner on second in the bottom of the eighth, Lindor and Pete Alonso grounded out and Smith struck out on three pitches against Hector Neris.

"We played good," manager Luis Rojas said. "It’s a tough loss, but once again, I have to be proud of the guys with how much resiliency they’ve been showing. It’s incredible."

The Mets’ offense struggled in both games, managing only nine hits total against usually hittable pitchers; Nola came in with a 4.22 ERA and Matt Moore sported a 7.36 ERA. Still, it could have been worse.

With the Mets down 1-0 in Game 1, Guillorme led off the seventh with a comebacker, but reliever Jose Alvarado threw it away for a two-base error. Guillorme reached third on a grounder to second and scored on Lindor’s two-out single.

Miguel Castro, Drew Smith and Seth Lugo combined for three scoreless innings.

"These guys, they don’t give up," Rojas said. "We’ve seen Nola plenty of times in the last few years and we know when he’s on and he was on it, and the guys battled and didn’t put their heads down. I think that just tells you what this team is."

Before that, Nola was busy making history, effectively using his curveball and changeup to strike out 10 straight batters from the first to fourth innings. The last one, a swinging strikeout of Michael Conforto, matched Seaver’s mark set in 1970.

Alonso, though, went fishing to keep it there. He poked a sinker low and out of the zone for a two-out double in the fourth to ensure that The Franchise’s record wasn’t erased — against the Mets, yet.

Nola ended up tying his career high with 12 strikeouts.

Both Mets starters, Taijuan Walker (five innings, one run) and David Peterson (six innings, one run), pitched well enough to win. As for the lack of offense, Smith said it was nothing to be too worried about.

"It’s never concerning when you’re in first place," he said. "We’re finding ways to get the job done. Obviously, we’re not going to win every game. If we did that, we’d be 162-0, which is impossible. It’s a part of the game. You can’t discredit Aaron Nola. You can’t discredit how Matt Moore came out and pitched . . . When you’re in first place, you can’t be too concerned. You’ve got to grind the game out."

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.