For the second straight day, the Mets put up a bunch of hits and a bunch of runs, this time 14 and nine, and romped to a 9-3 win over the Marlins Sunday afternoon in Miami. The victory gave the Mets another series win and upped their record to 89-52 on the year.
Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a ground-rule double (that probably should have been a triple) and followed that up with a 3-run homer in the second inning, giving the Mets the early lead. Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso added RBIs in the fourth and fifth innings, effectively putting the game out of reach.
The beneficiary of the early runs was Taijuan Walker and he made sure the Marlins would not come back. Walker had a good fastball and cruised to an outing that featured 7 IP, 1 ER, 0 BB and 10 Ks. Walker’s been two different pitchers this year, as he dominates the poor teams and struggles against the good ones. Today’s game lowered his ERA against teams under .500 to 2.27 in 75.1 IP.
The Mets continued to add runs in the remainder of the game. Eduardo Escobar and Tomas Nido added solo homers, with Nido’s blast being his first of the season. McNeil and Nido both finished with 3-hit games.
The Braves made a giant comeback in their game, going from a 6-1 deficit to a 7-6 lead, thanks to scoring five runs in the top of the ninth inning. But the Mariners came thru with two runs in the bottom of the ninth to get the win, putting the Mets ahead by 1.5 games.
It might just take the current mets and the former mets (Sewald, Flexen, Haggerty) to hold off the Braves, and that’s fine with me. Sky was falling two days ago, now we’re back up to 1.5 games in front. It’s interesting how much sequencing plays a role in perception. Even though we won the Pittsburgh series and the Marlins series, the narrative was that we weren’t playing well against the lower division teams. That’s only because we lost the last 2 to the Nationals and had to endure a 3 game losing streak. But in the 4 recent wins against the Fish and the Pirates, we’ve pretty much spanked them the way we were expected to. Bad teams still come to play. I would not want to be the Cubs in the upcoming series, however.
Gut Reaction: They harpoon the Marlins once again. Walker pitched a very good pitch game. Yesterday Carrasco was the very good pitcher. Carrasco can pitch better against good teams than Walker. Carrasco is the obvious choice for the playoff rotation because of that reason. Nimmo .785, Canha .797 and Lindor .787 are all pushing to eclipse .800 OPS . Nido, McCann and Escobar are contributing. Life is good. Take 2 of 3 against the Cubs but it wouldn’t surprise me if they sweep. LGM
I’m a scoreboard watcher and I pulled up ESPN and saw that the Mariners were doing their part. Then they bring in Sewald after a 3 run HR and my heart sank. Left for a drive home and did not check the score till I got home. Thrilled to be a game and half up and the schedule still working in our favor. We play Cubs and Pirates and the Braves play SF and The Phillies.
Nido with a HR – there must have been an eclipse or something. Whatever Escobar is drinking please share with the rest of the team. McNeil now batting .322. How often does your lead off batter get 3RBI? Big kudos to Walker for a great performance, even if the Fish stink up the place. Bring on the Cubbies and let’s unleash Bassitt. LGM
I went to sleep last night seeing the Mariners up 6-2 in the eighth, and I can’t believe what I read just now. Hard to believe but as soon as I turned on the highlights and saw Diego Castillo was the pitcher, I understood immediately how it happened: he walked the park again and then gave up Harris’ second homer. Then, a .205 hitter in Grossman hits a go ahead HR? Are these guys serious? Rodriguez and Suarez both homered in the ninth off Jansen to help out. Whew.
As for our boys, great job and I believe it’s time to give Alonso a day off. He missed a meatball down the pipe with the bases loaded and hit a double play ball. Nice job by the Mets winning a game that needed to be won. Cubbies in Citifield next while Atlanta goes to the horror house in San Francisco where the Giants are always tough and still over .500 during a down year.
The Giants are 67-73.
Since the All-Star break, they’re 19-30. I hope they can beat the Braves once. Maybe the first one, so the Braves can have a 3-game losing streak.
Ewww, I only looked up their overall record at home.