NEW YORK — Pete Alonso launched another homer off Aaron Nola, and Sean Manaea took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning as the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Tuesday in Game 3 of their NL division series.

Jesse Winker also went deep and Starling Marte had a pivotal two-run single to help the wild-card Mets, playing their first home game in 16 days, grab a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Game 4 is Wednesday at Citi Field, with All-Star Ranger Suárez (12-8, 3.46 ERA) scheduled to start for Philadelphia against fellow lefty Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA).

With a win, New York advances to the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres.

Manaea was lifted after allowing a leadoff single to start the eighth. The big left-hander, who blossomed into New York’s ace during the second half of the season, received hearty pats on the chest from teammates and a standing ovation from the towel-waving sellout crowd of 44,093 as he strolled off the mound.

Manaea struck out six and walked two for his first playoff win after entering 0-3 with a 10.66 ERA in his postseason career.

With the Mets clinging to a 2-0 lead, Manaea escaped major trouble in the sixth. After issuing consecutive walks to start the inning, he received a mound visit from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and struck out star slugger Bryce Harper on three off-speed pitches.

Nick Castellanos then lined into an inning-ending double play as the Mets’ middle infield doubled off Kyle Schwarber at second base. A pumped-up Manaea screamed “Let’s go!” as he bounced off the mound.

Alonso sent Nola’s first pitch of the second deep to right field. He flipped his bat high in the air on his way to first base when the ball reached the front row of the second deck.

It was Alonso’s second home run of the series and third in New York’s past four playoff games. All of those have been to the opposite field – the slugger went the other way on only four of his 34 homers during the regular season.

Nola and Alonso have been squaring off since their college days in the Southeastern Conference, but the matchup has been one-sided in the majors. It was Alonso’s sixth career homer off the right-hander, after entering with a .320 batting average and 1.050 OPS in 54 career plate appearances against him.

Phillies Manager Rob Thomson left Nola on the mound in the sixth to face Alonso, who drew New York’s second consecutive walk following Mark Vientos’ leadoff single. With the bases loaded, Orion Kerkering replaced Nola and got two outs before Marte’s two-run single made it 4-0.

Brandon Nimmo and Alonso drew back-to-back walks to load the bases again in the seventh before Jose Iglesias added a two-run single off José Ruiz with two outs. Harper and Castellanos each hit an RBI single in the eighth before Ryne Stanek retired slumping Alec Bohm to end the inning.

Francisco Lindor, playing his first home game since Sept. 8 because of a back injury, delivered a run-scoring double in the bottom half to make it 7-2.

The exuberant Winker connected for a solo shot in the fourth and watched the whole way from home plate as his first career postseason homer soared into the second deck in right.

NOTES

ROCKIES: Colorado is bringing back Bud Black, the franchise’s all-time winningest manager, for another season on the heels of a sixth straight losing campaign.

The Rockies extended Black through 2025. The deal was finalized just over a week after concluding a season in which Colorado finished 61-101. It was the second-worst mark in baseball, behind only the Chicago White Sox (41-121).

TV DEAL: Major League Baseball announced it will produce and distribute local broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins next year. All three teams had contracts with Diamond Sports Group that expired at the end of the regular season.

The Texas Rangers, whose deal also expired last month, also announced they will no longer be partnering with Diamond and are assessing their options for next season.

LAWSUIT: A second minor league umpire joined a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, alleging he was fired after he reported he was sexually assaulted by a female umpire.

Brandon Cooper, an umpire who worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, sued MLB and PDL Blue Inc., an affiliated entity, last April in federal court in Manhattan.

Alexander Lawrie joined the suit Tuesday as an additional plaintiff in an amended complaint.

Lawrie says he was a minor league umpire from 2019 until he was fired this past April 1. He said MLB cited “performance issues.”

Lawrie said in the suit he was sexually assaulted on March 17 by Gina Quartararo, a fellow umpire, following an Umps Care charity event. Lawrie alleges he was terminated in retaliation for reporting the allegation to the Association of Minor League Umpires, the union representing him.

Cooper said in the original suit that Quartararo derided him with homophobic slurs and crude remarks because he is male and bisexual.