Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte combined for four of the Mets’ eight extra-base hits, powering the Mets to a 6-4 win over the Marlins Friday night in Miami.
The Mets caught Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara on a rare off night and they chased him after scoring four runs in five innings. And while the Mets did good to plate that many runs against perhaps the best pitcher in the league, they had chances to do even more damage than that.
The Marlins took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and it looked like it wasn’t going to be the Mets’ night. But after leaving two runners on base in the first inning, the Mets put a crooked number up on the board in the second. Nimmo crashed a double off the wall in center field for their first run. And Starling Marte followed with a two-run triple to tie the game.
The Marlins immediately took the lead back in the bottom of the second. The Mets advanced a runner to third with one out in the third inning but could not drive him in. In the fourth inning, the Mets tied the score 4-4 on a Marte homer.
In Alcantara’s last inning, the Mets put runners on the corners with one out but could not plate the go-ahead run.
They finally got the lead in the eighth inning. Eduardo Escobar led off the inning with an infield single and Tomas Nido executed a perfect sacrifice hit to advance to second. And while the small-ball fans were rejoicing, Nimmo blasted a 406-foot homer to right to put the Mets up, 6-4.
Chris Bassitt was victimized by some poor luck in the first inning, as the Marlins scored three runs on bleeders and a bloop. Bassitt was particularly angry with how one soft-hit ball beat the shift, having a mini meltdown in the dugout once the inning was over. He rallied to give the team six innings.
But the best pitching work of the night came from the pen. Adam Ottavino looked sharp in the seventh inning and Trevor Williams was given the eighth and while he allowed two hard-hit balls, he got out of the frame 1-2-3.
And stop me if you’ve heard this before but Edwin Diaz was lights out in the ninth. He needed just 10 pitches to strike out the side and earn his 23rd save of the season.
The win upped the Mets’ record against the Marlins to 8-4 this season and 49-30 since 2018. That’s a .620 winning percentage, which is a 100-win team. But, everyone say it with me at the same time, “The Marlins always play us tough.”
Really nice win. If Diaz keeps this up, he should get some Cy Young votes.
starting to roll now. wouldn’t bet against going into the Nats series on a 6 game win streak with Scherzer and Degrom set for the first two. We’ll be hotter than hot when the Braves come to Citi. Time to regain some of that ground we lost when the Braves were playing the dregs, now that we get our chance.
Agree that Diaz should get CY consideration. So should Scherzer too by the way. He’s close to a sub 2 ERA and starting to rack up the innings. A very very very successful July so far.
Marte is making the case for best off-season acquisition. What a stud.
Nice win. Nimmo was reported to do some extra work after the 2nd Yankee game and it sure seems to have paid off. McNeil may be breaking out of his slump. And Escobar played a key role in the last three wins, getting the key hit to either get the rally going or driving in the go-ahead runs. Hopefully the likely platoon allows him to get his feet under him.
Good additions with Danny Boy Vogelbach and Naquin and now the table is set for something bigger.
Great heart to come back. Marte’s triple changed the momentum, first because it was two outs and scored two runs to tie the game, but also bailed out Tomas Nido that was admiring Nimmo’s double off the center field wall instead of running hard with two outs. Those things just bother the heck out of me. Without that triple, it’s only 3-1 instead of 3-2.
Marlins ruined Diaz’ immaculate inning by fouling off a two strike pitch. I think Edwin is in a zone… a really good zone.
Vogelbach hurts the ball when he hits it. Time to start lifting it.
Boston wants Dom Smith. Why do I see the next David Ortiz, who they got from Minnesota for free because the Twins didn’t like that he always got hurt as a younger player?
Of course it was Nido s 2 out walk after being down 2 strikes that ignited the rally.
Wow, I don’t know why you look at Dom and imagine a Hall of Fame career.
I see Butch Huskey.
I think he has talent, just had not the mind to focus often enough. However, experience can help there. He played out of position for three years and worked to be an average outfielder which he achieved one year. He put up numbers twice, and while it was a juiced ball, it was juiced for everyone else too. I do wish him well, and I don’t know about HOF, but I think he is much better than we saw lately.
I’m sorry, but Dom was an awful outfielder. Anyone could see that.
He never belonged out there.
I think that is a very unfair comparison. To Butch Huskey.
I like Dom and wish him well but he is more like Rip Van Winkle than David Ortiz.
Some stats:
They’re 15-8 in July, 25-7 in series openers, 14-3 in series openers on the road, 29-12 vs the NL East, 53-0 when leading after 8 innings, 52-5 when scoring at least 4. 44-4 when scoring 5 or more runs, and earned their 23rd comeback win. First time they are 25 games over .500 since 2006. Special special season. Anyone still want to temper their enthusiasm?
I, second Metsense’s comment below. Very interesting find. Thanks.
Besides the obvious heroes, shout-outs to Trevor Williams for pitching the 8th and for Vogelbach smashing two doubles and getting on base via a walk. So far, 4-10 w/ 4 walks: .400/.571/.600.
He did hit the top of the wall last night, Gus.
Williams has just done everything right this season, stepped up in every way possible. Not a superstar, just a ballplayer. He absolutely gets it. In fact, everyone on this team embraces his role. Only Dom Smith was the sour apple, full of grievance. Bye-bye.
Gut Reaction: “Sandy’s Beach” was washed out by a tidal wave named Nimmo and Marte. Diaz has been the best closer in baseball. He hasn’t given up an ER since June 18th, 15 appearances , 14.1 innings with 31 strikeouts! Sweet.
Nice stats from BoomBoom above^ . Thanks.
One more win to take the series but a sweep would be nice. LGM
Here’s one more. While we all know how great Diaz has been (and he’s been video game great), here’s Adam Ottavino over his last 19 appearances:
21.2 IP, 11 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 21 SO, 0.83 ERA
10 inherited runners, 0 scored
Yes, Ottavino has been a treasure. We all know that relievers tend to go up and down from year to year, likely driven by the small sample size inherent in the role.
This season, we got the Good Ottavino. He’s done it before. He’s also been awful.
It’s good to get lucky, and we’ve had our share of that this season.
Imagine if Conforto and Syndergaard accepted our qualifying offers. Imagine if we were successful in signing Matz. Or retaining Loup.