Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets took the field at loanDepot Park on Saturday afternoon looking to rebound from their disappointing loss on Friday evening. Tylor Megill started the game for the Mets in place of Justin Verlander, who was put on the Injured List, while the promising Edward Cabrera took the mound for the Marlins.

While the bats went cold on Friday, they were able to come through in the clutch as big hits in timely moments propelled the Mets to a 6-2 win and a 2-1 series lead heading into Sunday’s game.

The Mets were unable to capitalize off of two walks in the top of the first inning from Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso. Cabrera was able to induce a groundout from Daniel Vogelbach to end the inning without giving up a run.

Megill, like Cabrera, was able to work around two baserunners in the bottom of the first and finish the inning scoreless, striking out two batters in the process.

Mark Canha led off the second inning with an opposite field double followed by a Luis Guillorme walk. After the runners advanced to second and third with one out, Omar Narváez scored Canha on a sacrifice fly to give the Mets the early lead.

Despite striking out Jean Segura to start the bottom of the second, Megill started to experience control issues and a dip in velocity. After walking Jesús Sánchez, Nick Fortes took a fastball deep to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Megill then gave up a Luis Arraez single but limited further damage by getting out of the inning after that.

Megill settled in for an easier third inning, setting the heart of the Marlins’ order down 1-2-3 including two strikeouts which gave him six through three innings despite the lower velocity and a high pitch count.

Canha drew a walk to start the top of the fourth inning and was able to advance to second base and again to third base on two fielder’s choice ground ball outs. Narváez then drove in his second run of the game with an opposite field single, tying the game back up at two apiece. Nimmo subsequently drew a walk, Cabrera’s sixth of the game, but Cabrera struck out Francisco Lindor to escape the inning.

Andrew Nardi replaced Cabrera to start the fifth inning after Cabrera threw 85 pitches through four innings. Jeff McNeil led off the inning with a blooper just beyond the infield in left field that he was able to stretch into a double. Alonso then roped a pitch down the left field line for an RBI double to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. In a rare at-bat against a lefty, Vogelbach was able to advance Alonso to third who then scored on an RBI single from Canha, making it a 4-2 game.

Arraez led off the bottom of the fifth with his third single of the game. A long Jorge Soler flyout and a Garrett Cooper strikeout gave Megill two outs in the inning, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled to put two runs in scoring position. Bryan De La Cruz hit a sharp ground ball to the left that looked like it could have scored Arraez, but Lindor made a beautiful stop and the long throw to first to end the inning.

That would be the end of Megill’s outing as he finished with 93 pitches, giving up two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven through five hard-fought innings.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Mets couldn’t get much going outside of a Nimmo single, but what is of note is that he attempted to steal a base and did so successfully. Nimmo recorded just three stolen bases all of last seasons, and the new rules could encourage him to run more often than he did in 2022.

Dennis Santana relieved Megill to start the bottom of the sixth inning and impressed in his Mets debut, striking out two batters in a clean 1-2-3 inning.

In the top of the seventh, Canha blasted a solo home run to left field to increase the Mets’ lead to 5-2, his third hit of the game and his fourth time on base in four plate appearances. This came after he went 0-for-6 through the first two games of the series.

Drew Smith came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh, getting two quick outs. After giving up a walk and a base hit, though, he was relieved by Brooks Raley in order to get a left-on-left matchup against Chisholm. Raley got Chisholm to ground out, putting an end to the offensive threat.

A Narváez base hit, his second of the game, and a Lindor double set up runners on second and third for McNeil with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, but he rolled one over to end the inning, failing to extend the Mets’ lead even further.

The Marlins got multiple baserunners on again in the bottom of the eighth against Adam Ottavino, off of singles from Segura and Fortes. Once again, though, the Mets were able to hold the baserunners and finish the inning as Ottavino fooled Joey Wendle, striking him out on three pitches.

Alonso and Tommy Pham, pinch hitting for Vogelbach, led off the top of the ninth with back-to-back singles, Pham’s being the first hit of his Mets career. Starling Marte pinch hit for Guillorme two batters later and hit an RBI ground rule double, scoring Alonso and giving the Mets a 6-2 lead.

Arraez once again singled to start the bottom of the ninth, his fourth hit of the game, and his seventh overall through three games. A strikeout and a ground ball double play would end the inning quickly though, as David Robertson finished the game off in a non-save situation. Tylor Megill gets the win for the Mets as Andrew Nardi records the loss for the Marlins, and the Mets improve to 2-1.

Player of the Game

Mark Canha was the player of the game in the Mets’ best offensive game of the young season. He went hitless through the first two games of the season, but was fantastic in Saturday’s contest, going 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI single, a double, and a home run for a total of two RBIs and three runs. Canha notably started last season slow in terms of hitting for power, so it’s good to see him get two extra base hits including a home run in this one early in the season.

On Deck

The Mets finish up their four game series against the Marlins on Sunday in Miami at 1:40 p.m. ET. Kodai Senga will be making his Major League debut for the Mets while the southpaw Trevor Rogers gets the ball for the Marlins.