The New York Mets (69-64) defeated the Miami Marlins (67-66) by a score of 5-2 on Wednesday night at Citi Field. As of this writing they have closed the gap behind the Cardinals to 2.0 games and they are currently losing.
Pitching:
Bartolo Colon started for the Mets this evening and pitched 7 strong innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits and no walks, striking out 3. Christian Yelich knocked an opposite field home run in the 6th for the only earned run off Big Sexy on the night.
Addison Reed pitched a flawless 8th, striking out one and keeping the game tied. He earned the win.
Jeurys Familia came in for the save and was greeted by Ichiro Suzuki, who grounded out to second. He then struck out J.T. Realmuto with a 98 mph sinker before breaking Martin Prado’s bat on a groundout to third, ending the game.
Offense:
In the lineup due to his stellar career numbers against scratched Marlins starter David Phelps, Wilmer Flores put the Mets on the board tonight with a two run home run (15th of the season) in the 2nd inning, scoring Curtis Granderson.
The Mets were able to get the bases loaded with nobody out in the 4th inning. Unfortunately, Bartolo Colon was the next batter and he dribbled one to the third baseman, who threw home for one out and then the catcher threw it to first for the double play. Jose Reyes then hit a hard grounder that would have scored a run if second baseman Dee Gordon didn’t make a nice sliding stop, throwing Reyes out at first to end the inning.
Former Marlins closer A.J. Ramos came in for the bottom of the 8th inning. He was greeted by Yoenis Cespedes who smacked a base hit to left field. Curtis Granderson then walked, his third of the night, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Wilmer Flores then knocked a fly ball to center field, moving Cespedes to third with one out.
Jay Bruce then popped out to the second baseman Gordon for the second out of the inning, bringing Travis d’Arnaud to the dish. He worked a 5-pitch walk to load the bases with Kelly Johnson coming to the plate. After Johnson got ahead 2-0, Ramos worked the count back 2-2, then on a full count slider running in on him, he laced a double down the right field line to clear the bases, giving the Mets a 5-2 lead going into the 9th.
Notes:
Verizon Trivia Question: Ron Darling allowed multiple regular season HR to five Hall of Famers in his career. Who are they?
Jeurys Familia‘s 44th save of the season tonight is a new Mets single season record, beating Armando Benitez‘s 43 (2001).
Verizon Trivia Answer: Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Schmidt, and Ken Griffey Jr.
On Deck:
At Citi Field Thursday night at 7:10 PM, Jacob deGrom (7-7, 2.96 ERA) will look to bounce back against the Marlins’ Jose Urena (2-5, 5.83 ERA).
