Daniel Murphy’s 3-run homer in the top of the 9th gave the Mets a most improbable and much needed win in the series opener in Miami.
The Mets arrived in Florida at 4:30 AM and the offense showed it. Through 8 innings, the New Yorkers could only muster 2 hits, a 2 out single by Wilmer Flores in the second and a similar base knock by Juan Lagares in the third. Curtis Granderson led off the sixth with a walk, but was erased on a bizarre double play when Lagares bunted a squirrely popup that was snagged by cather J.T Realmuto and fired down to first. Fortunately, the Marlins couldn’t scare up any offense either, as Dillon Gee coaxed a ground ball parade from the Miami batters. At one point Gee retired 14 consecutive Marlins, having surrendered only 3 hits into the eighth inning. But it was in that eighth that things got dark for Gee and the Mets.
After getting Ichiro Suzuki on a grounder to first and Adeiny Heccheverria on a comebacker, pinch hitter Justin Bour blooped a single in front of Lagares. Reid Brignac pinch ran. Dee Gordon followed with line drive base hit to left and Martin Prado hit a heartbreaking single to right center, plating Brignac. That was all for Gee, who left the game after 7 2/3 innings, having thrown a bare 70 pitches. Carlos Torres came on and got the forever dangerous Giancarlo Stanton on a first pitch popup to Murphy.
Marlin closer Steve Cishek came on in the top of the ninth and Lagares hit a long fly to deep center that was badly misjudged by Marcel Ozuna, landing at the base of the wall. Lucas Duda followed Lagares’s leadoff double with a 5-pitch walk. After Michael Cuddyer flied out, Murphy crushed a knee-high fastball well over the right centerfield fence.
Jeurys Familia then came on and struck out Ozuna, got Michael Morse to ground out on a terrific spinning play by Murphy and Realmuto on a grounder behind second that was gobbled up by Flores.
Now, hopefully, theses guys can get some rest.
Mets now 12-2 against ATL, MIA & PHI. They play those guys 57 times and 40 wins is looking more and more feasible. That would be a .702 winning percentage over more than 1/3 of the season.
One thing I’ve thought about Murphy: He would have fit on that 2013 Red Sox team. For all the flaws, he plays with fire and emotion. Maybe the only gritty Met.
As for Gee, I’m a fan; I admire the guy and I’m glad he stepped up today. As in 2013, and 2014, he could reel off a streak of 10-15 quality games.
Happy for them both.
I’ve actually always thought that Murphy would fit extremely well on any of the Cardinals teams from 2011-2014. He would slide in at either second base or third base and be another solid bat to move runners over and knock them in.
Also: Nobody happier than Cuddyer after the homer. He promised that “we’d” play better tonight, but he sure didn’t. Huge fail in the 9th and just a slow bat. I can’t remember him pulling a good fastball.
I still like him, but think he’s a #6 hitter. Nobody is as bad as they look when they are slumping, and he’s really struggling right now.
Oh, and Terry: I don’t want to hear that the guys are tired unless you are also resting the regulars.
That was amazing! I have never seen someone throw 70 pitches in almost 8 innings. I was really pulling for a CG with under 80 pitches.
For the record, Red Barrett holds the record for the fewest pitches in a 9-inning game– 58 in a 2-0 win over the Reds back in 1944.
Carlos Torres once again the unsung hero. Don’t you just feel like last season with Stanton up there, he hits at least a base clearing double? Suddenly it’s 3-0 and we probably ain’t coming back.
Eric, yes on Torres, though not exactly unsung; he did get the W.
My gut reaction obviously has to do with Murphy. I remember an interview with Omar Minaya, I believe, when Murphy first came up and hit .310. Minaya was asked to talk about Murphy. He said that he met Murphy and asked him what position he preferred, and Murphy replied: “Hitter.”
It seems that maybe Murphy has been taking his at bats on the field because the Murphy I remember these last two years was adequate at second base. Not much better than average, but pretty close to average. As a matter of fact, he was16th out of 19 qualifiers in defensive WAR on Fangraphs covering these last two seasons. So, there are worse; like Hill, Altuve, and Kipnis.
Maybe getting his bat going will help him relax on the field. I wish he would look to pull every at bat until two strikes. How many throw away at bats does he have a year when he pops up to left center early in the count? And, he’s still doing it this year.
An aside to a great ending and a great performance by Gee, was another great performance by a starting pitcher: Noah Syndergaard! Complete game 7 innings (double header, therefore 7 innings each game), 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 bb, 9 K’s! Nice!
FWIW: Marc Carig of Newsday tweeted that Lagares was bunting on his own.