Mets Lose 6-3 To Miami In Series Opener

The New York Mets (87-52) lost to the Miami Marlins (57-80) 6-3 on Friday night in Miami to fall back into a virtual tie for first with the Braves. David Peterson was sent to the mound in hopes of quelling a recently hot Marlins offense. Miami sent Edward Cabrera to the mound, looking to play spoiler in the September race for the NL East.

Miami never gave Peterson time to breathe in tonight’s game. After walking Brian Anderson in the bottom of the first inning, the Mets’ left-hander gave up a long home run to Garrett Cooper to put New York in a 2-0 hole. To add insult to injury, Cooper had gone one-hundred at-bats without a home run before tonight’s game.

The Mets started their uphill climb in the top half of the third inning. Tomás Nido got the offense started with a hard-hit double off the right-center field wall. Brandon Nimmo then wasted no time and smacked a single on the first pitch of the at-bat to bring in Nido to cut the deficit to 2-1. New York continued to threaten the struggling Cabrera further after Francisco Lindor singled to right-field, but Jeff McNeil stopped all momentum after hitting into an inning-ending double-play on the first pitch he saw.

The pesky Marlins got to Peterson again in the bottom of the fourth inning. Nick Fortes started off the inning with a sharp line drive to left-field. Miguel Rojas then wasted no time, hitting a frozen rope that rolled all the way to the wall that scored Fortes to increase the lead to 3-1. Peterson proceeded to get the next two outs by inducing Charles Leblanc to ground out and striking out Jerar Encarnación, but a walk to Bryan De La Cruz would end his night. The Mets starter was subpar tonight, giving up 3 earned runs in only 3 2/3 innings pitched.

Buck Showalter then called upon Tommy Hunter to begin a long night for the Mets’ bullpen. Facing Mets’ killer Jon Berti, Hunter got Berti to fly out to Tyler Naquin to end the fourth inning.

Coming in for a second inning of work, Hunter ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out in the inning, Cooper struck again with a double down the left field line. After Avisaíl García ground-out for the second out of the inning, Fortes stroked a double to left field to score Cooper to bring the Marlins lead to 4-1. The inning would get dicier for Hunter after he walked Rojas to put two runners on base, but he struck out Leblanc to end the fifth.

Looking at a three-run deficit and running out of time, the Mets battled back in the sixth inning. Nimmo drew a leadoff walk off Cabrera to start the inning and set the stage for Pete Alonso. After Cabrera got the next two batters out, the Mets first basemen slugged a two-run home run to left field to cut the Marlins lead to 4-3. Before that at-bat, Alonso had been struggling in September and had only driven in one run. New York would chase Cabrera from the game when Naquin drew a two-out walk after the Alonso home run.

Mychal Givens was the next man up for the Mets’ bullpen and had an entertaining sixth inning. With one out in the inning, De La Cruz doubled into the right-center field gap. De La Cruz would quickly be erased from the base paths on a base-running error when Lindor threw to third base on a Berti ground-out. Berti, now on first base, was then picked-off by Givens for the final out of the inning.

The Mets offense would attempt one last rally in the game in the top of the seventh inning. Tommy Nance came into the game for Miami and started off strong by getting Darin Ruf to ground out. New York would load the bases when Eduardo Escobar singled, Nido singled, and Nimmo walked. Looking to take the lead and put the Marlins away, Lindor came up to the plate. With Steven Okert now on the mound for the Marlins, the Mets’ shortstop would ground out into an inning-ending double-play and strand all three runners on base.

Miami would put the game to rest in the eighth inning once Joely Rodríguez came into the game. Fortes singled on a soft-hit ground ball for his third hit of the game. After Rojas flied out to Naquin for the first out of the game, Lelbanc hit his third home run of the year to increase Miami’s lead to 6-3. The night would end for Rodríguez after he gave up back-to-back walks to De La Cruz and Encarnacíon. Showalter would call upon Edwin Díaz to escape the bottom of the eighth. Díaz would do just that, getting Berti to strike out and inducing Anderson to ground out.

With only three more outs to play with, the Mets deficit would be too large. Dylan Floro put the Mets down 1-2-3 to earn his fourth save of the year. With tonight’s loss, the Mets have now lost three straight series openers to teams below .500.

Player of the Game: Pete Alonso

The player of the game for the Mets was Pete Alonso. The Mets first basemen hit a two-run home run to cut the Mets deficit, at the time, to 4-3. It was only his second home run in September.

On Deck

The Mets will send Carlos Carrasco (13-6, 3.91 ERA) to the mound on Saturday against the Marlins. Carrasco has struggled in his past two starts, pitching to an ERA of 7.71 in only 4 2/3 innings combined.

The Marlins will counter New York with Pablo López (8-9, 3.66). Miami’s right-hander hasn’t lived up to his spectacular first-half numbers. In the second half of the season, López has pitched to an ERA of 5.48 and surrendered seven home runs in 46 innings.

Game two of the series starts at 6:10 p.m. ET on PIX11.