The Mets (15-5) pulled off a thrilling 3-1 road victory on Monday night against the Marlins (8-12), snapping Miami’s five-game winning streak. The game took one hour and 58 minutes.
Dillon Gee gave the Mets a terrific effort, tossing 7.2 innings of 1-run ball, allowing six hits while striking out three and walking none. Gee is extremely efficient, needing just 70 pitches (57 of which were strikes) to get through his outing.
Unfortunately for Gee, his counterpart was fantastic as well. Jarred Cosart held the Mets scoreless for eight innings, allowing just two hits (although he did walk three) and striking out two.
The majority of the game was uneventful, although the Mets might have had a chance in the sixth had a poor bunt attempt from Juan Lagares not turned into a double-play thanks to a great play by Marlins catcher JT Realmuto.
Gee cruised along until the bottom of the eighth. After getting the first two Marlins out, Gee surrendered a single to pinch-hitter Justin Bour. The lineup turned over for the third time around the batting order, and like clockwork, the Fish figured Gee out. Dee Gordon singled, putting the go-ahead run on second and prompting a visit from Dan Warthen, whose advice wasn’t good enough to stop Martin Prado from lining one into right-center for a base-hit that gave Miami a 1-0 lead and suddenly put Gee in position to lose the game. Looking to limit the damage, Terry Collins pulled Gee and brought in Carlos Torres. Torres threw one pitch, getting Giancarlo Stanton to pop out, and would eventually be named the winning pitcher for his efforts.
The Mets came up to bat against Steve Cishek in the top of the ninth with their backs against the wall. But as they have done many times in the past, the Mets rallied against the Marlins’ side-arming closer. Juan Lagares led off the inning and quickly fell behind 0-2, but fought his way back into the at-bat and eventually sent a hard shot to deep center. Marcell Ozuna took a terrible route to the ball and was unable to flag it down, allowing Lagares to coast into second with a leadoff double. Lucas Duda came up next and worked a walk, setting the table for Michael Cuddyer. But Cuddyer popped one up to right for the first out, bringing up Daniel Murphy, whose RBI double early in Sunday’s game had accounted for the most recent Mets run.
The 2014 All-Star came through, connecting for a three-run shot to right-center to put the Mets up 3-1 and give him a team-leading 14 RBI. Eric Campbell added to Cishek’s woes by doubling and sneakily swiping third, but the righty bounced back to fan Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki to put out the fire.
Jeurys Familia came on to preserve the win for Gee Torres and got the job done, with some help from his always-reliable middle-infield defense. After Familia struck out Ozuna to begin the frame, Michael Morse sent one towards the whole on the right side. Murphy channeled his inner Dilson Herrera and made a phenomenal play, racing to cut the ball off and firing a spinning throw to nab the slow-footed Morse at first. With the Fish down to their last out, Realmuto grounded one up the middle, but Flores showed good range and cut the ball off before making the throw to end the ballgame.
Daniel Murphy is a good player who belongs in the lineup. But if you’ve been listening to me, you already knew that.
On a serious note, I must say I was shocked by Murph’s homer. I’m confident in his abilities as a hitter, but he’s certainly not a power hitter. This wasn’t exactly a moonshot, it was an example of a line-drive-hitting approach paying off in spades. Murphy wasn’t swinging for the fences, but he picked a great time to really connect on one. And my suspicions that the Mets sit in a circle and read MMO aloud in the clubhouse before every game are growing stronger by the day. Murphy’s great play in the field at the end of the game was clearly made with you commenters in mind.
Gee was in rare form tonight. Not just for him— when was the last time a pitcher threw his 60th pitch in the eighth inning? He was absolutely motoring through the Marlins lineup in this one, pounding the zone, mixing his pitches, and avoiding mistakes. Unfortunately, his opposite number was outstanding as well, so Gee could not pick up a win. Torres really led us to victory though… what a great stat the Win is.
Are Gee’s late-outing struggles tied to fatigue or batter familiarity? It’s an interesting question, and as he certainly couldn’t have been tired with only 60-odd pitches in the eighth, today’s results seem to suggest the latter. But if that’s the case, how does he manage to give 5 or 6 solid innings a game? These hitters have all him before… do they forget what facing him is like between games?
That would have been a really tough one to lose, but the Mets hung in there and punched right back after falling behind. That is not a game we win in 2014. But this year is different. At least, it’s really starting to feel that way.
Up Next: The Mets will continue their series with the Marlins on Tuesday at 7:10 PM. Rafael Montero will make his first start of the season for the Mets, and he will be going up against David Phelps at Marlins Park.
