What Happened, In A Sentence
The Mets eventually strung some of their season-high 15 hits together and beat the Marlins 6-4.
A Frustrating Beginning
Miami scored first as Martin Prado launched a fastball that tailed over the plate for his first home run of the season. Bartolo Colon got himself in a bigger jam in the second, loading the bases with one out. Marlins pitcher Justin Nicolino hit a ground ball to third that seemed ideal for an inning-ending double play. Wilmer Flores bobbled the ball a bit and threw home instead. Kevin Plawecki tried to tag Justin Bour out before realizing he could just step on home plate – and his left foot missed the base. Colon got a lineout and an easy grounder from Prado to limit the damage at 2-0 Marlins.
Plawecki got an immediate chance to make up for his mistake by doubling down the line for the Mets first hit. Colon squared around to bunt, Plawecki took his lead and second baseman Derek Deitrich snuck behind him for a perfect pickoff play. Things would only get worse for Plawecki. He came up with the go-ahead run in each of his next three at-bats only to pop out and strike out twice.
The first six innings were full of dashed hopes for the Mets. Every leadoff hitter got on. Even Colon hit a sharp line drive single in the fifth. Nicolino has been a below-replacement pitcher in his brief big league career. But the Mets could only push two runs with their lineup full of injury replacements. Yoenis Cespedes was scratched minutes before the game with a sore right hip, so Michael Conforto started and hit seventh against the lefty. It felt like the Mets were actually lucky to be tied when Colon left the game. He couldn’t locate his tailing fastball that tries to break back over the corner of the strike zone and gave up several line drives that went straight to Mets fielders.
Hansel Robles came in for the sixth inning. It looked like he was about to turn the corner, striking out Marcell Ozuna and Giancarlo Stanton. Then he gave up two walks and a double to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead. J.P. Realmuto was held at third as the Marlins played conservatively with their slow runners. Ichiro Suzuki stepped to the plate and the Mets called on Jerry Blevins for the critical at-bat. Ichiro lined a ball squarely in the left-center field gap but was robbed by a Juan Lagares diving catch that was as good as any from his Gold Glove season.
You Get a Hit! And You Get a Hit!
After seven innings, the Mets had 10 hits but only two runs to show for it. James Loney doubled the first pitch down the right field line off setup man David Phelps. He took third on a passed ball one to Conforto. The Mets’ struggling left fielder tied the game in the sixth with a sacrifice fly, and in the eighth he got a game tying single to break his 0-for-20 streak. Plawecki struck out, and Alejandro de Aza grounded out as a pinch hitter. Curtis Granderson stepped to the plate and Matt Reynolds stepped in to the on deck circle instead of Lagares. It’s unclear how much Lagares hurt himself on the diving catch versus sliding in to second base head-first the next inning on a stolen base. Either way, the Marlins decided it would be a good idea to walk Granderson and face the batter with zero career RBI. David Phelps tried to sneak a get-me-over fastball for strike one and Reynolds drove it to right for a single and his first career RBI.
Don Mattingly turned to Cody Hall in the ninth inning after using him two innings on Friday. Hall was clearly out of gas and the Mets got a rally going. With Walker on third and Flores on second, Plawecki worked a walk to get something positive at the end of his horrible day. De Aza hit a ground-rule double to center, scoring two and becoming the 11th Met to get a hit in the game. Terry Collins wanted to save Rene Rivera as a backup/emergency catcher — as the long-time manager shies away from using his relief backstop — so Jacob deGrom got to pinch hit with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be like Bartolo, weakly popping out to second. Jeurys Familia gave up a run and two hits but struck out Ozuna to end the game.
Injury Updates:
Cespedes said after the game he is not concerned long term about his sore hip, which has been a recurring issue for much of the season. Lagares talked to the Mets trainer before taking his at-bat in the seventh, then left in the eighth when he couldn’t grip a bat; he later described it as numbness. Asdrubal Cabrera got a forearm cramp after checking his swing in the eighth inning but stayed in the game. The Mets have yet to say whether any of them will get Sunday’s game off as they face Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.
Photo credit: Steve Mitchell – USA Today Sports