MIA 3, NYM 9: Another Blunder Makes 25 Under

On this the 21st anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the outcome of a single baseball game means little in the grand scheme of things.

For this chapter of New York Mets baseball, though, a team who just collected their 89th victory of the season following years of being marked as baseball’s organizational jesters, issuing a 9-3 drumming of the Marlins, that initself bears some mention of significance.

Sitting atop the NL East with less than a month of play to go, the Mets are in the midst of authoring one of the more memorable season’s in the franchise’s 61 season history.

One of the protagonists in this an emblematic tale of perseverance similiar to that of his fellow countrymen in the wake of one of the nation’s darkest days, Taijuan Walker, continued his dominance of the Marlins in 2022.

Striking out 10 over 7 innings of 1 run ball, Walker picked up his 11th win of the season. The only blemish on his otherwise sterling effort, one of the two home runs surrendered to right fielder Brian Anderson.

Of the Mets 9 starters, four of them - Brandon Nimmo, Eduardo Escobar, Tomas Nido, and Jeff McNeil - reached base at least three times. The trio of Nimmo, Escobar and Nido, who managed to reach four times, all added home runs of their own in their team’s winning effort.

Following Pablo López’s second outing of double-digit hits surrendered to the Mets Saturday, Jesús Luzardo didn’t fare much better, allowing 5 runs over 3.1 innings, ballooning his ERA from 3.36 to 3.81. The everso-patient New York lineup - which has seen the 5th most pitches on average per plate appearance at 4.69 - forced Luzardo to throw 91 pitches in his sub-4 inning outing. The Marlins have now gone back-to-back outings where their starters failed to complete at least 4 innings.

The Marlins, who fall to 57-82 with the loss, guaranteed their 11th consecutive full season of sub-.500 baseball. The team went 31-29 in the pandemic shortened 2020 season that saw them clinch a surprise playoff berth.

Looking Ahead

Miami will welcome the Rangers back to loanDepot Park Monday as they prepare for a day-night doubleheader. Trevor Rogers (4-11, 5.51 ERA) will make his third start since returning from injury while Texas will send Glenn Otto (6-8, 4.80 ERA) to the mound for Game 1 before turning to Jon Gray (7-6, 3.83 ERA). Manager Don Mattingly noted postgame that Braxton Garrett (2-6, 3.67 ERA) will get the ball in Game 2 in what will be his first start since 08/14. First pitches are slated for 1:10 and 7:10 Eastern.

Of Note

• With his 6th inning double, Joey Wendle joined shortstop Miguel Rojas as the only pair of Marlins players with 3 games of two or more doubles this season.
• Walker’s third game score of at least 73 against the Marlins this season made him just the 10th pitcher to have at least 3 starts with a game score no lower than 70 in a single season. Stephen Strasburg is the only pitcher to have done so 4 times, accomplishing the feat in 2019.

Baseball-Savant