Safe At Home!!!
The New York Mets (57-50) defeated the Miami Marlins (43-64) by a score of 5-1 Tuesday night at Marlins Park.
Offense:
The Mets had the bases loaded in the first inning with two outs, however they were not able to get runs across. The Mets were making Marlins’ starter Brad Hand work very hard, eventually knocking him out after 4 innings and over 80 pitches despite not scoring any runs.
The Mets first run of the game came with two outs in the 6th inning, when Wilmer Flores hit a long double off the left field wall and Ruben Tejada followed it up with a base hit to right field scoring Flores, thanks to a magnificent slide to avoid the catcher’s tag.
The Mets made some noise in the top of the 8th inning against lefty Mike Dunn. After Duda crushed a single off the right field wall, Travis d’Arnaud singled past Adeiny Hechavarria to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Wilmer Flores was given the bunt sign (why?) and popped up the attempt. Ruben Tejada then struck out after a valiant 8-pitch at bat.
With first and second two out, pinch hitter Eric Campbell singled to left field and scored Lucas Duda to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. A wild pitch moved d’Arnaud and Campbell both into scoring position, but that wouldn’t matter as Juan Lagares smacked a stand-up triple to right-center field, giving the Mets a 4-1 lead. A Curtis Granderson double then knocked in Lagares giving the Mets a 5-1 lead, finally knocking Dunn out of the game.
Every Met who came to bat recorded at least one hit, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada each recorded 2.
Pitching:
Jon Niese started for the Mets, going 7 strong innings. He allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk, while striking out 6. He pitched great once again, lowering his ERA to 3.51 on the season. He was awarded the win.
Tyler Clippard pitched the 8th inning, allowing two hits but no runs. He has never allowed a run in Miami and has not allowed a run since joining the Mets.
Despite it not being a save situation, Jeurys Familia was brought in to pitch the 9th inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Derek Dietrich. After a wild pitch, he hit JT Realmuto in the jersey to put runners on first and second with nobody out. But then Adeiny Hechavarria hit into a 4-6-3 double play and Miguel Rojas struck out on a 91 mph slider to end the game.
Notes:
After banging out 15 hits on Monday the Mets responded with 12 more hits tonight. The team is just losing with confidence, and even when they’re behind in the game late there’s a feeling that they’re going to come back and win.
Niese was brilliant tonight, since he lowered his arm slot, he has relied less on his curveball and more on his cutter. His curveball has less vertical movement since the mechanical change. However, this lowered arm slot has increased his overall effectiveness.
On Deck:
The Mets will send Matt Harvey (9-7, 2.91 ERA) to face the Marlins and David Phelps (4-7, 3.93 ERA) tomorrow night at 7:10 pm at Marlins Park in Miami.
