Mets 6, Marlins 3, final
Who are these impostors?
The Mets continue to thrive in the wake of cratered expectations and have salvaged this 10-game road trip at 5-5 — a miraculous turn of events considering it started with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers.
After sweeping the Giants in San Francisco for a turnaround, the team shook off the dropped opener of the Miami series and rolled over the Marlins with a 8-0 victory Wednesday night. Last night, they jumped to an early 5-0 lead against starter José Ureña and never looked back. Nothing masks mediocrity than facing groups even more mediocre than you.
Maybe the team was buoyed by the continued resurgence of Seth Lugo — who provided another quality start, yielding three runs (two earned) in six innings, striking out four; maybe it was the rumored return of Big Sexy; whatever the reason, the Mets continued a streak of playing winning baseball — the kind of play we can only hope for when victories actually make a difference.
Ahead by five after three, behind a stingy and cagey Lugo, the Mets were in uncharacteristic cruise control. Lugo’s only real danger — other than allowing a solo Giancarlo Stanton home run in the fourth — came in the sixth, when the Mets starter allowed a bases-empty, two-out situation turned to escalate into an almost-meltdown as a close play at the plate (where Rene Rivera and Stanton got tangled) and wild pitch narrowed the margin to two runs. The game never got tighter than that.
Jay Bruce (two runs scored) and T.J. Rivera (two runs batted in) — filling at first base for an ill-but-not-ill-enough-to-pinch-hit Lucas Duda — had solid nights at the plate, Jerry Blevins didn’t light himself on the fire on the mound, and the team got to depart the state of Florida. An all-around win.
The Mets return to Flushing tonight to face the Phillies, who trot out Ben Lively (1-2) against hirsute wonder Jacob deGrom (7-3).
Photo credit: Jason Vinlove – USA Today Sports