The Mets (3-5) beat the Marlins (3-4) by a score of 2-1 Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field to salvage the final game and avoid a sweep at home.
Pitching:
Logan Verrett filled in brilliantly for the injured Jacob deGrom, tossing 6 scoreless innings. He struck out 6 batters while allowing only three hits and walking two.
Jim Henderson came in to pitch the 7th inning. He allowed a base hit to Martin Prado, then proceeded to walk the next two batters to face him, Justin Bour and J.T. Realmuto, to load the bases.
Have no fear, as Hansel Robles was brought in with the bases loaded and nobody out to face Miguel Rojas, who he struck out looking. Derek Dietrich then pinch hit for the pitcher, and Robles struck him out too.
Still with the bases loaded, now with two outs, Jerry Blevins was brought in to face Dee Gordon. After hitting a “grand slam foul ball”, Gordon flew out to Yoenis Cespedes in left field to end the threat. He stayed in for the 8th inning to face Ichiro Suzuki, who he got to fly out to left field, but Christain Yelich knocked a single.
Jeurys Familia then came in with the runner on with one out in the 8th, and Alejandro de Aza came in to play left field and Yoenis Cespedes moved to center (why?). Giancarlo Stanton flew out to center field for the second out before Justin Bour singled through the left side to bring in a run, trimming the Mets lead to 2-1. He then induced a come-backer which he threw to first for the last out.
In the 9th, a blooper to second by Marcell Ozuna, a comebacker by Chris Johnson, and a strikeout of Dee Gordon constituted the last three outs of the game.
Offense:
Nothing happened until the 4th inning, but don’t worry, keep reading. Curtis Granderson and David Wright led off the 4th inning with back to back singles. Yoenis Cespedes then struck out, and Neil Walker followed with another single to load the bases with one out. However, Wilmer Flores then popped out to the first baseman in foul territory and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out to end the threat.
The offense was quiet, again, until the 7th inning with reliever Dustin McGowan on the mound for Miami. Wilmer Flores led off the inning with a single, his first hit of the season. A wild pitch moved him up to second base before Asdrubal Cabrera singled to right field to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Juan Lagares then grounded out back to the pitcher, moving Cabrera up to second base with Flores holding up at third.
Kevin Plawecki then singled past the drawn in shortstop, his first hit of the season, scoring both runners and giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. He tried to take second on the throw home, however, but he was thrown out for the second out. Lucas Duda, pinch hitting for the pitcher but moving to first base in a double switch, then hit a dribbler in front of the plate and was thrown out by the catcher to end the inning.
Bryan Morris came in to pitch the 9th, whereupon he was greeted by a Granderson flyout on which Christain Yelich made a very nice sliding basket catch. Wright walked and Cespedes was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out for de Aza. He hit a frozen rope, but unfortunately it was right at the second baseman, who caught it and flipped it to second to double off David Wright and end the inning.
Notes:
Wilmer Flores played his first career game at first base after only a crash course from former perennial Gold Glover Keith Hernandez. He looked fantastic, making a diving play as well as starting a beautiful 3-6-3 double play. Terry Collins decided to sit Lucas Duda against the lefty Conley, and Flores filled in beautifully for him at first base.
Logan Verrett continues to be a guy the Mets can look to for a spot start. After that great game he pitched against the Rockies last summer, he filled in wonderfully today for the injured Jacob deGrom.
In the 8th inning Ichiro Suzuki hit a soft fly ball into foul territory down the left field line. Cespedes chased it and long jumped into the stands attempting to make the catch. Because the fence is so short down the lines, his thought process was most likely he’d rather jump into the stands than banging his knees/shins into the low wall. After being visited by trainer Ray Ramirez, he stayed in the game and seems to be okay.
Jeurys Familia pitched for the third day in a row, and was sharp in today’s 5-out save.
On Deck:
After a day off, the Mets will send Bartolo Colon (0-1, 1.23 ERA) to the bump to face off against the Indians’ Cody Anderson (0-0, 3.00 ERA) Friday night in Cleveland at 7:10 ET.
