After starting slow out of the gate, the New York Mets were able to recover and come back to defeat the Miami Marlins 4-1.
The Mets were held hitless through six innings by Marlins starter Jarlin Garcia, who really dominated the lineup. In the top of the seventh, Marlins manager Don Mattingly made a head-scratching move by taking Garcia, who at the time had thrown 77 pitches.
The Mets responded with a Todd Frazier single to break the no hitter in the same inning. The next inning, the Mets were able to break get runs on the board. At the time, they were trailing 1-0 from a Miguel Rojas home run in the bottom of the first.
Kevin Plawecki led the top of the eighth inning off by getting hit by a pitch on the left hand, but he made it down to first base nonetheless. After an Amed Rosario strikeout, Michael Conforto stepped up to the plate to pinch hit for Juan Lagares. He delivered by lacing a double, and setting the Mets up with runners on second and third.
Adrian Gonzales then stepped in to bat for Mets starter Zack Wheeler, and he poked a single to drive in Plawecki and Conforto to put the Mets up 2-1. Following an Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilmer Flores drove a ground rule double, which drove in Gonzales to increase the lead to 3-1. A Frazier sac fly made the score 4-1, which would stand to be the final.
The offense of the team piggy backed off of the incredibly strong start from Wheeler. Through seven innings, Wheeler struck out seven, only walked one, and allowed one earned run over 83 pitches thrown. My Gut Reaction is that Wheeler must have worked on his mechanics, or felt the need to step up for the moment, because his control of pitches was excellent tonight. If he can be an effective part of the rotation, the Mets could be deadly
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The bullpen once again put out a strong effort. A combination of Jerry Blevins, Robert Gsellman, and A.J Ramos combined for two innings of no run pitching. Gsellman struck out the side in his inning of work.
After sweeping this three game series, the Mets have started 10-1 for the first time in franchise history. They will next play on Friday, at 7:10 pm at a sure to be electric Citi Field. Steven Matz will get the start for the Mets, and Zach Davies will get the start for the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.
Mattingly did the Mets a big a favor by taking Gracia out with 77 pitches while pitching a no hitter. He should have let the guy give up a hit before pulling him. Wheeler was outstanding and should get another start. AGon with another clutch hit. Frazier again contributed with a SF RBI and the defensive game ending DP that wasn’t being made a year ago. Good,winning teams play these type of games.
It seems like Wheeler does well on Miami. How about a trade of Wheeler for JT Realmuto?
Another great win. I have to say as a skeptic, I never saw this coming. It is awesome.
Lets see what Plawecki and Nido.can do over the course of a season.
Lets also see what the Mets can do when the schedule gets tougher.
Add Miguel Montero to the list of available catchers (also Geovany Soto and Carlos Ruiz). Montero was just released by the Nats.
This was the crispest game the Mets have played in a week, and maybe so far this year. There weren’t any starting pitching breakdowns after three innings, there weren’t mental lapses, the offense bunched hits and made the most of opportunity, and the plays were made on the field all night. In all, a great game to travel home to and to have an off day at home to enjoy thinking about.
Now comes the tricky part: Matz and Harvey need to start gaining momentum and Syndergaard needs to find his mojo. But, while Friday night shows to finally have some decent weather, Saturday night will be cool and Sunday may be rainy for Thor.
And, did I mention the Nats lost? 🙂 Four games up in the very early going but better than not.
7 innings…. 83 pitches… 7k…. 1bb!! Who the heck was That Guy!!!?????
Movement….velocity…: location….. That Stuff plays against any lineup
The last time Garcia had gone deep into a game was in 2016, in AA action. He threw more than 70 pitches six times that year topping off at 91 pitches. Last year and most of his professional time he has been a reliever.
Mattingly did the right thing here.
He threw 67 and 73 pitches in his first 2 outings, so it not unreasonable that he could have pitched more. I don’t see any spring training game logs for him, but I presume he was working as a starter as well during Spring Training.
I don’t think it was the right move but it was defensible.
I am as thrilled as anyone over the Mets these days and the magic touch Callaway seems to have.
One question: Gsellman pitched a dominant eighth, striking out the side with ease and no stress. Why take him out?