NEW YORK -- Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez was often teased by family and friends that he never hit a walk-off homer during his 14 years in the big leagues. That all changed Thursday night at Citi Field.

The Mets¡¯ bats were ice cold until they rallied in the late innings, culminating with Martinez belting the first walk-off home run of his career for a 3-2 win over the Marlins.

The Mets were down, 2-1, when they scored the winning run off closer Tanner Scott in the ninth inning. Francisco Lindor led off with a walk. Two batters later, Martinez came to the plate and Lindor stole second base. On a 3-1 pitch, Martinez hit the ball over the right-center-field fence to win the game. Martinez had hit 320 career homers without a walk-off shot before Thursday.

¡°I couldn¡¯t believe it when I was just told [about what Martinez accomplished],¡± Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen this guy play for so many years and have a successful career. He is a pretty good hitter. When Martinez told me that, I was like, ¡®No way.¡¯¡±

Scott said he made serious mistakes before allowing the Martinez dinger.

¡°I shouldn't have walked Lindor to start it off and then made probably three up and away pitches too much to J.D.,¡± Scott said. ¡°And he almost got me the other day, and then of course I threw a slider that he got to, and that's his honey hole and just missed location. I shouldn't have fallen behind.¡±

Martinez's 320 career homers before his first career regular-season walk-off home run are the third most in history, behind only Mark Teixeira (408) and Jos¨¦ Bautista (336), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bautista¡¯s first walk-off homer also came with the Mets in 2018.

¡°It was definitely cool. I¡¯ve hit a lot of late-inning home runs and [had] big hits, but never a walk-off home run,¡± Martinez said.

Martinez wasn¡¯t sure if the ball was out of the park. Many times this year he has seen balls go as far as the warning track at Citi Field.

¡°I said, ¡®If that doesn¡¯t go, what does?¡¯¡± he said.

After ending the game with the monster shot, Martinez heard from the same family and friends. Guess what? He was teased once again.

¡°I heard from everybody. My friends are already on me. [They said], 'It¡¯s only taken him [14] years.' It¡¯s funny,¡± Martinez said.

At first, it didn¡¯t seem like there would be a game-winning hit for New York on this night. Marlins rookie Roddery Mu?oz stifled the Mets over six scoreless innings and didn¡¯t allow his first hit of the game until Harrison Bader laced a high fastball into right-center field for a one-out single in the sixth. Bader then made a steal attempt and was thrown out by catcher Christian Bethancourt.

¡°The life on the fastball and the movement,¡± Mendoza said of Mu?oz. ¡°He was throwing that cutter, and then the sinker into righties, the four-seam. That's what made him effective. We couldn't hit many balls hard. He was on today. We chased a few pitches out of the strike zone, but I think the way he used the fastball today on both sides of the plate with movement made it tough.¡±

After Mu?oz left the game with a 2-0 lead, the Mets showed some signs of life in the seventh against right-hander Anthony Bender, who had a tough time throwing strikes. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs on two walks sandwiched around a double by Martinez, but Bender induced Starling Marte to hit into a double play that cut Miami¡¯s lead to 2-1. With Martinez at third base representing the tying run, the Marlins turned to Calvin Faucher, who got Mark Vientos to ground out to end the threat.

¡°It¡¯s a one-run game,¡± Martinez said. ¡°It was still a great inning. We scored a run. We are within striking distance. We are changing the tone. We are one run away. Let¡¯s keep it up.¡±

The Mets were able to get that one run and one more, thanks to the game-winner from Martinez. Where does the home run rank in his career? It¡¯s right up there.

¡°It¡¯s one of the bigger ones in my career, I would say, because I¡¯ve never done it before. It¡¯s fun,¡± Martinez said. ¡°I think the playoff ones and stuff like that are just a little bit more because there¡¯s so much meaning behind it, but anytime you hit a walk-off home run, it¡¯s big.¡±