The Mets started off their weekend series with a wild 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins in 12 innings, as the Bench Mob delivered once again.
Here are some key takeaways…
– The Mets got off to a fast start off opener John Curtiss. After Jonathan Villar walked on four pitches, he stole second and was then doubled home by Francisco Lindor. Seven pitches into the game, the Mets had a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Dom Smith flew out to center, and Magneuris Sierra’s throw to try to get Lindor at third got away and rolled into the dugout, and Lindor came home with the second run thanks to some aggressive baserunning.
– Tomas Nido got the start behind the plate for the third time in four games, and he made an immediate impact. After Jazz Chisolm Jr. singled to lead off the game, Nido gunned him down at second base, the first time Chisolm has been caught stealing all season.
Nido also did some damage at the plate, lacing an RBI double to deep left-center to drive in the Mets’ third run of the game. He was thrown out at the plate to end the inning, though.
He later did it again with his glove, or more accurately his right arm, as he gunned down Garrett Cooper trying to steal second to end the fourth.
– Marcus Stroman didn’t have his sharpest stuff at the outset, as he allowed three hits over the first two innings, with a Sandy Leon sac fly driving in the first Miami run of the night in the second.
But Stroman settled in and got better as he went along, striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth. He went on to strike out five hitters in a row, and got some help behind him from Lindor to rob Corey Dickerson of an infield hit in the sixth.
Stroman pitched into the seventh inning, when he walked the leadoff man before being pulled in favor of Miguel Castro. But the move to Castro backfired, as he allowed a two-run homer to Cooper on his fifth pitch out of the pen, tying the game 3-3. That also closed Stroman’s line, who finished with two earned runs allowed in six-plus innings of work, striking out eight and walking one. He had thrown 89 pitches when he was taken out of the game.
– As if the Mets haven’t had enough injury problems, second baseman Jose Peraza was hit by a pitch in his leg in the top of the fourth, and he would later be pulled from the game and replaced by Wilfredo Tovar. The Mets later announced the injury as a right calf contusion.
– With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, Trevor May allowed a Miguel Rojas single and walked Adam Duvall and Brian Anderson on some very close pitches. With the bases loaded and two down, May reared back and fired a 97mph fastball past Cooper to end the inning.
– Jeurys Familia entered a tie game in the ninth inning, and he walked Leon to get the inning started. Sierra then singled to right to give the Marlins runners at first and second with nobody out. After pinch-hitter Jesus Aguilar popped out, Chisolm lined out to left, bringing the Mets an out away from escaping the jam. Familia then got Rojas to go down swinging on a slider to send the game to extras.
-In the top of the tenth, the Mets used Jake Hager as the pinch-runner for Nido at second base. Tovar then pounded the ball into the turf, and the ball bounced so high that he as able to leg it out for an infield single, putting runners at the corners with no outs. Eventually, pinch-hitter James McCann walked to load the bases with two outs for Villar, but he grounded out to keep the game tied.
The Mets turned to Edwin Diaz in the tenth, and with one out, McCann had a passed ball deflect off his glove and move Rojas to third. But Diaz struck out Duvall and Anderson to keep the game going.
– Villar made a huge baserunning blunder in the 11th. At third base with runners on the corners and no outs for the Mets, Villar was picked off third by Adam Cimber, taking away all of the Mets momentum. Fortunately, the Mets were able to survive the bottom of the 11th to keep the game alive.
-In the 12th, Hager delivered his first big-league hit to get the inning started, giving the Mets runners on the corners as Smith pulled into third. Khalil Lee then notched his first major league hit, a bullet double down the right-field line to put the Mets up 4-3.
Johneshwy Fargas then sliced a liner to right that got past Duvall to score two more runs. Fargas was out at home trying to stretch it into an inside-the-park homer, but the Mets took a 6-3 lead.
The Marlins made things interesting in the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs off Aaron Loup, but Lindor turned a nice double play and Jacob Barnes recorded the final out.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Marlins go head-to-head again on Saturday at 4:10 p.m.
RHP Pablo Lopez will go for the Marlins, while the Mets have not yet announced their starter.