The Mets (44-50) beat the Marlins (44-49) by a score of 5-4 on Saturday evening at Citi Field.
Daisuke Matsuzaka got the start for the Mets and was solid, although the defense behind him was rather poor. Dice-K was charged with 4 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out 10 in 6 innings of work.
Miami got on the board first in the top of the third. After a double, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk put runners on the corners with 1 out, Donovan Solano hit a grounder to David Wright at 3rd. David picked up his glove a bit too early, and an inning-ending double-play turned into a run for the Fish.
The Marlins tacked on another run in the top of the 5th, when Christian Yelich hit a shot over the wall in right-center.
The Mets’ bats took awhile to get going against Tom Koehler. However, Travis d’Arnaud led off the bottom of the 5th with a base hit up the middle for New York’s first hit of the ballgame. Kirk Nieuwenhuis followed him up with a double off the left field wall which was misplayed by Yelich, and the Mets had the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Juan Lagares got the first run in with an RBI groundout as Kirk moved to third, and with 1 out and the tying run 90 feet away, Terry decided to push the envelope and have Ruben Tejada lay down a suicide squeeze. The bunt was perfect, Kirk came in to score, and the game was square at 2.
Miami took the lead right back in the top of the 6th against Matsuzaka. After Casey McGehee worked a 1-out walk and moved to 2nd on a passed ball, Garrett Jones doubled on a ball that fell just out of the reach of Lagares to make it 3-2 Marlins. Marcell Ozuna was up next and hit a line drive right at Granderson, but Granderson broke in and the ball went over his head, putting Ozuna on 2nd and bringing in another run to put Miami up 4-2. Dice-K got a pair of strikeouts to escape the jam without further harm and finish his work for the day, but it appeared that the damage had been done.
Wright and d’Arnaud each drew walks in the bottom of the 6th to put the tying runs on base, but Kirk was unable to get the runners home. Reliever Carlos Torres worked a flawless top of the 7th and the two teams headed into the 7th-inning Stretch with the Marlins still up 4-2.
Lagares grounded out to start the bottom of the 7th, but Tejada worked a walk, and Terry Collins sent the embattled Chris Young up to the plate to hit for Matsuzaka. Mike Redmond pulled his starter Koehler and Bryan Morris came in to face CY, and in the plot twist to end all plot twists, Chris smacked a 2-run homer over the left-field wall to even the game up at 4-all.
Vic Black came in to replace Torres and pitch the top of the 8th, and got himself into a jam, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. Adeiny Hechavarria came to the plate and lined one that seemed destined for the gap in right-center, but Daniel Murphy made an incredible leaping grab to end the inning and save at least 1 run.
The Mets made 2 quick outs in the bottom of the 8th, but d’Arnaud hit a 2-out double against Mike Dunn to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Terry brought in Eric Campbell to pinch-hit for Kirk, and Soup answered the call, lining a 3-2 pitch into center to bring home TDA and give the Mets a 5-4 lead.
Jenrry Mejia came in to close things out for the Mets and worked a 1-2-3 top of the 9th, giving the Mets their 6th win in the last 7 games.
Dice-K’s line isn’t too pretty, but he was victimized by some sloppy defense and actually did quite well today. He has stepped up in every role Terry Collins has asked him to fill this season.
Guys, we’re winning games! Finishing games with more runs than the other team! What is going on here? It isn’t every day that the Mets erase a deficit during a game— let alone doing it twice— but this is a different team we’ve been seeing lately, so I’m not sure how surprised I am that we got it done today. However, I am quite shocked that Chris Young was the guy who stepped up. You can’t predict ball, I guess…
Traivs d’Arnaud has looked so good at the plate since being called up, and he kept on rolling today, busting up Koehler’s no-hitter in the 5th, and getting a huge 2-out double in the 8th to set up the game-winning hit.
Speaking of the game-winning hit, how awesome has it been to watch Campbell? A guy comes in with no expectations and nobody can get him out… let’s hope it lasts.
I love the suicide squeeze play. If you get the bunt down, the run is almost guaranteed to score. With the pitcher on deck, it makes all the sense in the world (Dice-K most likely won’t be getting that run in, so you have to take some chances with your number 8 hitter at the plate).
This was a great win, and the Mets have some nice momentum. Hopefully they can finish up a sweep tomorrow and head into the break on a very, very positive note.
Up Next: The Mets will go for a sweep of the Marlins on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. Jacob deGrom (2-5, 3.38 ERA) will face Brad Hand (0-1, 5.09 ERA) at 1:10 PM.
