PHILADELPHIA – The Mets lost Francisco Lindor to a back injury and, to make matters worse, they also lost a game.

They couldn’t afford either setback as time ran out in the regular season and they tried to keep the Braves out of the last wild-card spot in the National League.

And the 2-1 loss was the second painful loss in a row to the first-place Phillies, as Edwin Diaz allowed a game-winning single by JT Realmuto in the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park.

Diaz opened the inning with a strikeout of Bryce Harper before Nick Castellanos hit a single to right.

Castellanos stole second base when Alec Bohm grounded out for the second out, but Realmuto ended the game with a base hit to right that scored Castellanos.

The clash between David Peterson and Christopher Sanchez proved to be a close duel between the pitchers, as both left-handers performed well for much of the game.

Peterson struck out 15 of 17 batters before the sixth inning.

Bohm, in his first game back from the injured list with a left hand injury, hit a single with one out in the second inning and advanced to second base on a passed ball from Luis Torrens. Bryce Harper reached first base on a walk in the fourth inning for the only two baserunners.

Peterson walked the first two batters in the sixth inning before Trea Turner hit a double to left center to bring in Harper, who hit a ground ball to second base.

The Mets managed an infield single by Brandon Nimmo to open the seventh inning, but JD Martinez narrowly missed a home run for the second game in a row, Jose Iglesias flew too close and Torrens was eliminated by a groundout.

Sanchez, who had allowed just two runs in 13 innings in his previous two starts, allowed one run on six hits.

Tyrone Taylor scored the first run of the game with a leadoff home run against Sanchez in the eighth inning.

He jumped on a 2-2 slider and slammed it an estimated 406 feet into the left-center field seats to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

It was Taylor’s seventh home run of the season.

Harrison Bader followed with a single through the right side of the infield, ending Sanchez’s day.

With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a single that put runners on the corners for Brandon Nimmo, who made a ground ball to first base.

Peterson allowed a double to left center field by Weston Wilson at the beginning of the eighth inning.

Buddy Kennedy followed with a double to left to tie the game.

A sacrifice bunt by Johan Rojas moved Kennedy to third base for Kyle Schwarber.

With one infield and one out, Peterson brought Schwarber to second base for a ground ball, leaving Kennedy on third base and tying the game.

Phil Maton came in and let Turner fly to the right.