The New York Mets (7-3) won the opening game of their series against the Miami Marlins (4-5) by a score of 9-8 in 16 innings on Thursday night at Marlins Park, extending their winning streak to five games.

Pitching

Robert Gsellman got the nod and had a tough outing to say the least. He started the game by loading the bases and giving up a grand slam to Marcell Ozuna.

The tide seemed to have turned after the first inning. Gsellman pitched three perfect innings in a row and was given a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. The wheels fell off in the fifth however, as he gave up a run on a sac fly and was charged with three more runs after Josh Edgin came into the game. Edgin did get the last out of the inning, but not before the Marlins took a 8-7 lead.

Rafael Montero pitched a scoreless sixth inning and stayed in for the seventh. He was then taken out after putting two men on with one out. Jerry Blevins was called upon to get the final two outs of the inning. He loaded the bases with a walk to Derek Dietrich, but then got Miguel Rojas to pop out and Ichiro Suzuki to strike out swinging to end the inning.

The Mets entered the eighth inning with the game tied at eight and Fernando Salas on the mound. He pitched a scoreless eighth and then brought the game into extra innings after pitching a scoreless ninth. He has now pitched 7.2 scoreless innings in seven games to start the season.

Addison Reed kept the Mets alive in extras as he pitched a perfect tenth and eleventh inning.

After Reed, Josh Smoker was the next man up for the Mets. He struck out two in a scoreless twelfth, two in a perfect thirteenth, and one in a scoreless fourteenth.

Hansel Robles came in for the fifteenth inning after pitching in the last three games for the Mets. He pitched a scoreless frame before the Mets took the lead in the top of the sixteenth. He finished the game in the bottom of the sixteenth with another scoreless inning. He showed a lot of guts tonight, pitching for the fourth game in a row.

Offense

The Mets tied the game in the second with a four-run inning of their own. Wilmer Flores lined a single to center, Jay Bruce laid down a bunt for a base hit, and Neil Walker singled on a ground ball to left field. After T.J. Rivera struck out, Travis d’Arnaud emptied the bases with his fifth career triple. Curtis Granderson followed two batters later with a RBI single to center.

Yoenis Cespedes started off the third inning with a home run to left center field. One pitch later, Flores made it back-to-back home runs as he hit a big fly to left field.

Cespedes wasn’t done as he hit his second homer of the game in the top of the fifth to give the Mets a 7-4 lead at the time.

The Mets seemed to have tied things up in the seventh inning as Jay Bruce drove in Cespedes with a line drive to left field. However, the Marlins reviewed the close play at the plate and it was overturned keeping the score 8-7 in the Marlins favor.

The Mets were able to tie things up for real in the eighth as Michael Conforto came off the bench to deliver a RBI double.

The bats were quiet for the next seven innings before d’Arnaud hit a go-ahead home run in the sixteenth. This was d’Arnaud’s first four-hit performance of his career, finishing with the home run, a triple, and two singles.

Cespedes finished the night 2-6 with two runs scored, two home runs, two RBI, and two walks. D’Arnaud had a big night as he went 4-6 with three runs scored, one home run, four RBI, and a walk. Bruce also had a nice game as he had three hits.

On Deck

Noah Syndergaard (1-0, 0.69 ERA) will make his third start of the season on Friday at 7:10 pm against the same Marlins team he dominated in seven innings on April 9. The Mets will get their second look at Adam Conley (1-0, 1.80 ERA) who held them to one run in five innings in his season debut on April 8.