MIA 4, NYM 10; Poor pitching performances give Mets huge win

After a disappointing series loss in Philadelphia, the Miami Marlins took the field in New York on Friday night. Pablo López was on the mound for Miami, with Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco opposing him. The Mets entered the contest with a 42-23 record (1st in NL East and National League), and in this series opener, they showed the world what makes them such a complete team.

Prior to the game, the Marlins made a series of roster moves. Jesús Sánchez and Jesús Aguilar were both placed on the IL due to “undisclosed reasons.” The Marlins recalled Jerar Encarnación and Lewin Díaz to the big league team.

The Mets offense got it going right away in the bottom of the first inning. Brandon Nimmo got a hit and Starling Marte reached base due to an error. Francisco Lindor, with a 0-1 count, hit a 3-run homer to center field against a López changeup to give the Mets an early 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the Marlins were in danger of falling behind even more. There were men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs for Lindor. In a 3-2 count, he popped it up in between Jorge Soler and Jon Berti. Soler’s sliding catch ended the inning and stole a run from the Mets.

The Catch Probability on that play was 70 percent, according to Statcast. What was most interesting was Soler’s 27.6 ft/sec sprint speed—that’s the fastest he has been tracked on any fielding play this season.

The quiet Marlins offense finally made something happen in the top of the 5th with a much-needed Bryan De La Cruz home run, trimming the Mets lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the 6th, with men on 1st and 2nd, Luis Guillorme hit what may have been the weirdest single of his life. It was fielded by DLC at the wall and initially ruled a triple play. That would have been only the second triple play in Marlins franchise history.

Instead, the Mets successfully challenged the play—the cameras showed the ball hitting the wall before DLC got his hands on it. Guillorme was awarded first base.

With the bases and no outs for J.D. Davis, he hit an RBI single to extend the Mets lead to 4-1.

After Tomás Nido struck out, Don Mattingly took the ball from Pablo López. He exited the game with the bases loaded and all of those inherited runners would later come around to score.

Pablo’s pitch usage was pretty similar to usual. He could have used his changeup a bit more as it produced more swing-and-miss action, but that wasn’t the main issue. Pablo’s command just didn’t seem to be at his best and that made him surprisingly hittable. He allowed 8 hits (season average of 4.4 hits per start this season entering the night). It can be argued that this was among Pablo’s worst starts of the season.

Tommy Nance entered in place of Pablo. He forced in additional runs with the bases loaded by walking former Marlin Starling Marte and hitting Francisco Lindor with a pitch. Then slugger Pete Alonso put the game out of reach with a 368 ft. grand slam giving the Mets a 10-1 lead. The grand slam was long enough to be a homer in 21 out of the 30 major league ballparks.

In the top of the 7th, the Marlins got some offense on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk, Garrett Cooper single, and a Jorge Soler RBI double.

That rally ended the night for Carrasco. The Mets right-hander went to his usual fastball and slider combo which worked well enough to keep the Marlins mostly quiet through 6 ¹⁄₃ innings of work. Carrasco’s command was on point as he attacked the strike zone a considerable amount. He got 7 K’s.

The Mets went to newly recalled reliever Adonis Medina after Carrasco left. With a man on 2nd and 3rd, Jon Berti was at the plate and earned himself an RBI groundout to drive in Garrett Cooper.

In the later innings, Jimmy Yacabonis and Lewin Díaz made their 2022 Marlins debuts and contributed. Yacabonis pitched the bottom of the 7th in which he didn’t allow a hit or run.

The top of the 8th began with a Díaz lead-off double. Chisholm walked and Medina balked home Díaz while Cooper was at the plate. That made the final score a little more respectable, 10-4.

The losing pitcher of this game is Pablo López. Carlos Carrasco earned his 8th win of the season which is tied for the most in MLB.

Miguel Rojas was replaced by pinch-hitter Luke Williams in the 7th inning. Don Mattingly said the move was “precautionary” after Rojas jammed his finger while fielding a ground ball. X-rays came back negative.

There were 5 total hit by pitches (4 by Marlins pitchers).

Don Mattingly’s Postgame Press Conference:

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With this loss, the Marlins are now 28-34 (4th in the NL and 7th in the Wild Card race). The Fish are back at it on Saturday at 4:10 with Braxton Garrett on the mound against Taijuan Walker.