The Marlins wrapped up their series at Citi Field Thursday night for the rubber match against the Mets, and after they had played three straight one-run games, the Fish decided that an offensive explosion was the way to go.
It was Anibal Sanchez on the mound against Jon Niese, and things didn't go well for the Marlins at the start of the game. Anibal struggled from the get-go, and gave up two runs in the first. Carlos Beltran singled, and David Wright followed with a home run to put the Mets in the lead 2-0.
In the four innings that followed, Anibal couldn't locate his pitches to save his life, and ended up walking five. The Mets didn't have much trouble locating his pitches, however. They put up single runs in the second and third to take a 4-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Fish finally showed a little life and scored two runs off of Niese when LoMo doubled and Hanley hit a home run to cut the Mets lead in half.
If you happened to turn the channel before the sixth inning, now is the time to start kicking yourself. In the top of the sixth, the Marlins scored seven times. Niese hit LoMo with a pitch to open the inning, Hanley singled, and Uggla doubled in a run. Then Gaby Sanchez walked, and Uncle Wes hit a sac fly to score Hanley. Brett Hayes was the next Fish to drive in a run on an RBI ground rule double, and that was the end of the line for Niese.
Elmer Dessens came out of the bullpen for the Mets, but he didn't fare a whole lot better than his starter. Donnie Murphy and Maybin singled for back-to-back RBI, and a double from Logan Morrison scored them both to make it 9-4 in favor of the Marlins.
Anibal gave up four runs on nine hits and walked five through five innings, and then it was bullpen time. Brian Sanches pitched a scoreless inning, The Hopper handled two, and Jose Veras got out of a little trouble in the ninth to hold the score.
The pen didn't allow a run, but they seemed to pick up where Sanchez left off when it came to walks. Altogether, the Marlins pitching staff issued nine free passes to the Mets in Thursday's game. It didn't matter, though, thanks to the offensive explosion in the sixth.
The Marlins added on a couple of runs in the ninth, and took the rubber match of the series, 11-4.