Wow, that one hurt. What a punch in the gut…
The Miami Marlins came back in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mets 2-1 in stunning fashion as the winning run scored on a Brandon Lyon wild pitch. The loss is the sixth straight defeat for the Mets, matching their longest losing streak of the 2012 season and it’s only April 30.
I feel more worse about Jeremy Hefner being denied the win, than for the incredible way we lost this game. The kid pitched his heart out.
For eight scoreless innings, Hefner was pitching the game of his life. He held the Marlins to just three hits and no walks while striking out eight and was three outs away from a complete game shutout. But then it all came crashing down in the ninth.
It all started to unravel after a leadoff single by pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan in the ninth. Coghlan advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Anthony Recker. Juan Pierre then lays down a perfect bunt, but rather than taking the easy out at first base, Recker fielded the ball, rolled the dice, and fired to third. Safe!
It was a bad call according to the stop-action video, but the ump wasn’t buying David Wright‘s argument that Coghlan’s foot came off the bag. However, lets not pretend that the runner didn’t beat the throw by a mile. For a split second his foot did come off the bag, but unfortunately it was Wright’s own leg that blocked that view from the umpire. Also, the throw by Recker was way too high. A better throw could have made a bigger difference and produced a more favorable outcome for the Mets.
So now instead of a runner at third and one out, you now have the tying run at third and the winning run on first with nobody out.
A call to the bullpen… Enter reliever Brandon Lyon. The next batter, Donovan Solano, quickly greeted Lyon with an RBI single to tie the game. Following an intentional walk to Placido Polanco to load them up, Lyon uncorks a wild pitch to send Pierre scampering home on with the game-winning run. Game over.
Ouch…
Look… The fact of the matter is that the Mets scored only one run and had only four hits. How are you going to win with offensive numbers like that?
The lone Mets run came on a sac fly by Recker to drive home Daniel Murphy who had gotten on with a double and advanced to third. That was all the fireworks the Mets could conjure up against the equally as brilliant Marlins starter Kevin Slowey.
Wow… The New York Mets – Always discovering new and shocking ways to lose a game. For the second straight night, the Mets were three outs away from victory and blew the game to the last place Marlins.
What a terrible loss and one that now has them five games under .500 and already 6.5 games back and just two games away from last place in the NL East.
What else can we do? Everybody’s struggling right now – the bullpen, the offense, the whole damn team. Nothing will be worse than getting swept by an awful Marlins team who don’t even have their best player Giancarlo Stanton.
Somehow they will have to pick themselves up after another gut-wrenching defeat and try to salvage the final game of the series tomorrow afternoon. Dillon Gee (1-4, 5.96 ERA) opposes left-hander Wade LeBlanc (0-4, 6.20) in an early 12:40 PM start.
