Despite the trademark abbreviated outing from Jarred Cosart, the story of the night was the Marlins bats as they jumped all over Steven Matz and kept the heat on the subsequent relievers as the Marlins came out on top big in the first game of the series by a score of 10-3. It was fitting that the offense shined so brightly given that the national telecast focused so heavily on new hitting coach Barry Bonds, cutting away seemingly every inning to watch him and discuss him in the dugout and sporadically playing clips of his interview with Eduardo Perez.
Matz began the game by pouring in strikes early, working quickly. Christian Yelich reached on a bang bang play at first, initially called out but overturned after a Don Mattingly challenge. It went for not, however, as Matz got Giancarlo Stanton down on strikes in the next at bat.
Cosart was wild in his half of the first, pitches high up, down in the dirt and everywhere in between. Fastball was mid-90's with a ton of zip, but as Curt Schilling noted, Cosart seemed to have little idea where it would end up. Still, he got out of the inning without issue, Johnson had a sweet snag at a comebacker to end the first.
Matz might have been amped up entering the second because he walked Martin Prado to open the inning on four pitches, and never seemed to settle down after that. Chris Johnson followed with another walk and J.T. Realmuto sliced a single between short and third to load the bags full of Marlins. Adeiny Hechavarria came up and battled, eventually smashing one at the third baseman which careened off of his glove into left field and allowed Prado and Johnson to score, 2-0 Marlins. Cosart then successfully bunted Realmuto and Hech to second and third base, respectively. Dee Gordon followed up with a single up the middle that Flash Jr. easily beat out and plated Realmuto, 3-0 Marlins. Gordon then stole his first base of the season, and after Ozuna popped up, Yelich brought two home with a bloop single, and Stanton wasted no time kicking Matz out the game for good by blasting one into the centerfield seats. By the time Hansel Robles got Prado out, the Marlins had batted around and it was 7-0.
Cosart came back in the second inning and did exactly what he was supposed to do, inducing a couple of swinging strikeouts courtesy a sinking breaking ball and a groundout he fielded himself. A Hech sac fly in the Marlins half of the third inning brought home Johnson for their eighth run. Cosart in the third continued to be "effectively wild," inducing a double play and a Curtis Granderson ground-out.
In the fourth Cosart's shut-out was spoiled when David Wright doubled and Yoenis Cespedes brought him home with a single. Lucas Duda then singled sharply, moving Cespedes up to third who would then score on a wild pitch in the dirt that Realmuto couldn't come up with. Duda would score on a fielder's choice. By the time the inning was finished, the score had become 8-3 Marlins.
Things didn't get easier for Cosart in the fifth. He labored to get a couple outs and, with at runners at first and third, Mattingly opted to take him out. Cosart begrudgingly accepted, throwing his glove in disgust once he reached the dugout and headed into the clubhouse. Cosart ended up with a line of four and two thirds innings pitched, giving up three runs on four hits, walking three and striking out three. Chris Narveson came on in relief and struck Duda out swinging to end the threat.
A comforting sight occurred in the sixth when Ozuna lifted a homerun down the right field line, his first of the year. Stanton, Prado, Johnson, and Realmuto all continued the fun with a walk, single, single and...you guessed it...a single, giving the Marlins a nice cushion with the double digit lead at 10-3, where it would remain. By the end of the night, they had racked up 15 hits. Ichiro did come up in the ninth but failed to record a hit. Chris Narveson, Dustin McGowan, Craig Breslow and Bryan Morris each pitched well in relief and kept the Mets off the board beyond the fifth.
The Marlins will try and keep the good vibes going tomorrow in game two at 7:10 EST, Jose Fernandez versus Noah Syndergaard in a fantastic match-up.
Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 24,318
Hero of the Game: Adeiny Hechavarria (+.129)
Goat of the Game: Steven Matz (-.420)
Play of the Game: Hech singles in two in the second inning (+.135)