The New York Mets (30-23) defeated the Miami Marlins (29-26) by a score of 6-2 at Marlins Park Friday evening. With a Nationals loss, the Mets are now only two back for the division lead.
Pitching:
Noah Syndergaard toed the rubber for the Mets and was his usual dominant self tonight. Syndergaard went seven innings, allowing two runs, walking one, and striking out nine.
Thor got himself into a bit of a jam in the seventh inning. With runners on second and third with two out, Thor was able to strike pesky Derek Deitrich out on a 90 MPH slider after seeing a steady diet of 99 MPH fastballs in the seventh inning and over a hundred pitches.
Addison Reed was incredible in the eighth inning striking out three batters through the teeth of the Marlins order. Reed clearly annoyed some of the Marlins hitters as he has been working a bit of a quick pitch into his repertoire as of late.
Jim Henderson came on in the ninth to shut the door and preserve the opening game of the series for the Mets.
Offense:
The Mets offense has been struggling with key players out to injury but they were much better tonight against Marlins Tom Koehler.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Asdrubal Cabrera put the Mets on the board with an absolute bomb to right center field.
Wilmer Flores was in the middle of the scoring tonight. In the bottom of the fourth inning with a runner on third and two out in a 1-1 tie game, Flores worked a tough at bat, sawing off a base hit flair to right field for just his 3rd RBI of the year.
After a Wilmer Flores walk in the top of the seventh, and the game knotted at 2 runs a piece, James Loney hit his first Mets home run to give the team a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the ninth inning Wilmer Flores lead off the inning with a double. After a James Loney fly out, Rene Rivera crushed his second home run of the year over the center field wall to give the Mets a 6-2 lead.
Notes:
David Wright is headed to California to see back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins. He is expected to be shut down for at least 6-8 weeks with no baseball activity.
Zack Wheeler is now expected back some time after the All-Star break.
Travis d’Arnuad was the DH in a rehab game in Port St. Lucie today.
James Loney’s home run was his 100th of his career.
Syndergaard has now won four straight decisions.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a three game series with the Miami Marlins tomorrow afternoon at Marlins Park. The game has a start time of 4:10 PM. Bartolo Colon (4-3, 3.39 ERA) will look to keep the Mets going against lefty Justin Nicolino (2-3 4.50 ERA).
