In a surprising reversal, the Mets gave a 49-year-old manager who's never led a team to a winning season a three-year contract.

The Mets got six solid innings from Sean Manaea and an all-around good effort at the plate and on the bases from Francisco Alvarez to grab a 6-3 win over the Rangers on Tuesday night in Texas.

Now a long shot for the wild card, Texas turns its eyes to the division race against Houston - but that might not look so hot, either.

Francisco Alvarez laced a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth, then scored an insurance run on an unusual sacrifice fly Tuesday night for the visiting New York Mets, who damaged the Texas Rangers' playoff hopes with a 6-3 win in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

He hit two home runs in three games, including the 300th of his career, last week at Citi Field, triggering a curtain call from Mets’ fans, who also chanted, “Fire Stearns” in a mantra aimed at embattled president David Stearns.

Following a second straight disappointing season, the New York Mets could have been tempted to hire a flashy name as their next manager, but the organization is letting player progression and clubhouse morale dictate their decision.

The Texas Rangers led the New York Mets after five innings Tuesday, but couldn’t close out a critical win in the AL West race.

The Colorado Rockies lost 7-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday. The Rockies became just the fifth club in major league history to lose at least 100 games in four consecutive seasons and the first to do so since the New York Mets in their expansion season of 1962 through 1965.