Marlins Fall To The Mets Yet Again
Jul 30, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi (24) reacts during the fourth inning against the New York Mets at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Fresh off of a one run victory last night, the New York Mets wanted to come out and establish offensive production early on. Fortunately for the Marlins, righty Nathan Eovaldi would not allow that to happen. During his first three innings, Eovaldi looked very strong, giving up just one hit. Despite his strong performance early on, the game began to slip away from Eovaldi in the fourth inning, as he allowed the Mets to score two runs off of a triple to deep center by Juan Lagares. Even though the Mets roughed up Eovaldi in the fourth, he quickly settled down, tossing two more innings, giving up just one base hit.
For a large portion of this game the Mets starting pitcher, Zack Wheeler had fans both in attendance and at home on edge. The reason for this was his near perfect performance. Through the first three innings, Wheeler did not allow a single base runner. In fact, through the first six innings of his outing, Wheeler only allowed the Marlins two base-runners; both coming off of walks. Despite his six innings of no hit baseball, the Miami Marlins finally caught up to Wheeler in the 7th, as the Marlins were able to not only get a base hit, but scoring two runs in the process. It all started with a Logan Morrison walk, followed by a base hit by third baseman, Ed Lucas. The rally continued as Donovan Solano was able to drive in LoMo, sending Lucas to third. With Lucas on third and two outs remaining, rookie outfield Jake Marisnick was able to drive in his first career major league RBI, after singling to his own position, centerfield.
With the Marlins and Mets being tied headed into the ninth inning, Marlins manager Mike Redmond sent out closer Steve Cishek to the mound, in hopes of giving the Marlins offense an opportunity at a walk-off win. Cishek dominated the top half of the ninth inning, with a one, two, three inning, giving someone on the Marlins a great chance to be the late night hero. Unfortunately, no one on the Marlins offense was able to deliver the goods, sending yet another Mets/Marlins game to extra innings.
Jul 30, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; New York Mets catcher John Buck (44) is greeted after scoring a run during the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Unlike the 15 inning thriller earlier during the year between these two teams, this game got out of hand rather quickly. Unlike the ninth inning, Cishek did not have a good tenth. The first three batters that Cishek faced all made it on base. Former Marlin catcher, John Buck, came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. As a Marlin fan, we are used to this team blowing their chances of winning late in the game; however, it is even worse that JOHN BUCK was the man who delivered for the Marlins BIGGEST RIVAL. Buck was able to bring in two runs off of a single to center. Despite Cishek having a tough outing, manager Mike Redmond, for some odd reason thought that it would be a good idea to let him finish off the inning. Even though the tenth was rough for Cishek, he was able to find a way to get out of a very serious jam, keeping the Marlins somewhat in the game heading into the bottom of the tenth.
To the surprise of very few, the Marlins were unable to comeback, falling short to the Mets for the second night in a row, as Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to first, sealing a 4-2 victory for New York.
The Marlins will look to rebound tomorrow night, sending Henderson Alvarez to the mound to take on another promising young pitcher that the Mets have in Jenrry Mejia.
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