Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 20,338
Hero of the Game: Many, many heroes, but the most valuable by WPA was Kevin Slowey (0.877 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Juan Pierre (-0.337 WPA)
Play of the Game: Marlon Byrd flied out to right field in the 12th inning. Daniel Murphy out at home plate on a throw from Marcell Ozuna (+0.318 WPA)
The Miami Marlins and New York Mets were expecting an enticing duel between Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey, and indeed viewers did see that. Fernandez pitched six innings and struck out seven batters with three walks, with the sole run coming from a Juan Lagares double that scored Ike Davis. But outside of that, Fernandez and his seven whiffs and fantastic strike zone chart kept the Mets to just three hits in his time in the game.
Matt Harvey also had strong game and kept the Marlins down to one run as well. Chris Coghlan delivered a sacrifice fly following a hit-and-run that moved Derek Dietrich to third base thanks to Marcell Ozuna. But the Fish and Mets got stuck at one run, thanks to strong bullpen performances from both sides. The Fish had six innings from their bullpen pitchers, recording four strikeouts and six walks. Somehow, the group allowed no runs.
This transitioned the Marlins into a performance by starter Kevin Slowey, who was scheduled to work later this series. Slowey pitched seven innings in the extra frames, and his performance was fantastic. The Marlins were lucky to have Slowey throw eight strikeouts and no walks and no runs despite eight hits allowed. Slowey threw a crazy 93 pitches in a bullpen outing, essentially performing his start today rather than later in the week.
It helps that the Fish had some strong defensive performance from their fielders. In the 12th inning, the Mets appeared to have a chance to score the winning run, as they advanced Daniel Murphy to third base on a fielder's choice and an out. On the fly ball, Marcell Ozuna caught the ball and delivered a strong throw to finish off the threat.
Finally the Fish delivered in the 20th inning, many many innings more than any fans are interested in seeing. The Marlins got back-to-back singles from their bottom of the order from Placido Polanco and Rob Brantly. This was followed by Adeiny Hechavarria's base hit to drive in the final run of the game. Steve Cishek pulled out the save to finish off the affair.
Brantly had one of the best performances of the game, pulling out four hits in the game. Ozuna kept up his game as well, pulling off three hits and contributing directly to one of the two runs in the game.