Mets Unravel In The Seventh, Defeated 6-2 By Miami

The New York Mets (44-24) underwent one of their toughest tests of the season Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. New York took on Miami Marlins’ ace, and NL Cy Young frontrunner, Sandy Alcántara. The right-handed Dominican was as advertised, and dominated across eight two-run innings. After unraveling in the seventh inning, New York was defeated 6-2.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning until the game’s first run was scored. Up until that point, Bassitt retired seven in a row and extended his inning scoreless streak to 14. Meanwhile, Alcántara was rolling, as he retired six Mets in a row and only allowing three baserunners.

In the sixth, Starling Marte struck with a roped 108-MPH line drive to left-center field with two outs. That resulted in a triple. Francisco Lindor then came to the plate and delivered a two-out RBI hit plating Marte. This gave New York, what was thought of at the time, the game’s all-important first run. The Mets led 1-0 after six innings.

The game got turned on its head quickly. The Marlins loaded the bases in the top half of the seventh inning. Bassitt was removed after the walk that loaded the bags. Seth Lugo then entered and gave up a grand slam to Jerar Encarnacion. It was his first-career hit in his first-career game. Just like that, the Marlins led 4-1.

The scoring was not done yet in the half inning. Lugo, who did not have it on Sunday, walked  Jazz Chisholm Jr. This was followed by a Jon Berti triple to put the Marins up 5-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Mets answered back in the bottom half of the inning. However, they were only able to plate a single run. Jeff McNeil doubled, then Luis Guillorme plated him with an opposite-field single. New York still trailed, 5-2, after seven innings.

Besides an unearned Marlins’ run in the ninth inning, and a fruitless comeback attempt by the Mets in the bottom half of the inning, that is all she wrote in Sunday afternoon’s Father’s Day contest. New York was unable to solve Alcántara, and the pitching imploded in the seventh inning leading to a 6-2 defeat. New York’s division lead decreased to 5.5 games over Atlanta.

Player of the Game: Tommy Hunter

As the SNY broadcast mentioned, right-handed relief-pitcher Tommy Hunter went through a debilitating back issue. It was so bad he required surgeries that made it hard for him to walk for months. However, the Mets signed him to a minor-league contract when he was finally healthy. He worked his way back, and made his first Major League appearance since May 18th of 2021 Sunday afternoon.

He struck out two Marlins’ batters for a perfect 1-2-3 eighth inning. He also pitched the ninth were he would have been perfect as well if not for an error and subsequent unearned run. Despite the one unearned run, Hunter’s final line read: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 SO via 22 pitches. A very nice story.

On Deck

The New York Mets continue their four-game set against the Marlins in the series finale tomorrow at 1:10 P.M. ET. The projected pitching matchup is Trevor Rogers (5.87 ERA) for the Marlins and David Peterson (3.60 ERA) for New York.