The New York Mets (85-74) defeated the Miami Marlins (78-80) by a score of 5-2 Wednesday. The Mets’ magic number is now 3, so any combination of Mets wins or Cardinals losses totaling 3 will secure a Wild Card spot for the Amazins.
Offense:
After the Marlins put up a 2-spot in the bottom of the first, the Mets responded in the top of the second. T.J. Rivera continued his hot hitting with a leadoff double before James Loney homered to right, his 8th of the year, tying the game at 2.
With two outs in the 4th inning, Seth Lugo seared a ball down the first base line for a double. Jose Reyes then lined a full-count fastball to right-center field and raced into second base for an RBI hustle double. Asdrubal Cabrera would have driven in Jose if it weren’t for a nice over-the-shoulder catch by left fielder Marcell Ozuna to end the inning.
After Curtis Granderson reached on a single in the 5th inning, Jay Bruce socked a full-count pitch over the right field wall for his 32nd homer of the year, and his second in as many days. 5-2 Mets!
Yoenis Cespedes walked in the 9th with one out, and Curtis Granderson moved him to second with a base hit, his fourth of the day. Juan Lagares then hit a double play ball to short, but was able to beat the relay throw to first, putting runners on first and third with two outs. T.J. Rivera came up and flew out to deep center to end the inning.
Pitching:
Seth Lugo turned in another clutch performance tonight, going 5.1 innings allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits and a Martin Prado home run. He struck out 2 and walked 3.
Hansel Robles came in and finished the 6th, flawlessly facing two batters and striking out one.
Fernando Salas continued to be effective, tossing a scoreless 7th. He allowed one hit and struck out one.
Addison Reed came in to pitch the 8th and conserve a 5-2 lead. After Christian Yelich led off with a base hit, he struck out Giancarlo Stanton looking. He worked through the rest of the inning without a hitch, preserving the lead.
Jeurys Familia came in with a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the 9th, looking for save #50. He started off by fanning Derek Dietrich on four pitches. Up came Jeff Francoeur, and Frenchy was sent down flailing as well. With two out and nobody on, Dee Gordon hit a hard one-hopper to James Loney who knocked it down, and slid into first base himself to end the game.
Notes:
Verizon Trivia Question: Name the 4 Mets players all time with a first or last name of “Kelly”?
Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to 30 games, the longest such streak in the Majors this season. He also has a 46-game on base streak.
Pirates first baseman John Jaso hit for the cycle tonight, the third of 2016.
I am about to plow through a box of Mallomars on my own… Somebody stop me, please.
Verizon Trivia Answer: Ty Kelly, Kelly Johnson, Kelly Stinnett, Kelly Shoppach.
On Deck:
The Mets have an off day tomorrow as they travel up the coast to the city of brotherly love. The Mets will task Robert Gsellman (3-2, 2.56 ERA) with facing off against the Phillies’ Alec Asher (2-0, 1.66 ERA) at 7:05 PM at Citizen’s Bank Park.
