Miami Marlins 1, New York Mets 4: Mattingly’s Folly

The Miami Marlins rode the Jarlin the Marlin train for six no-hit innings. Don Mattingly derailed that train, and enabled the bullpen to bungle their second game in a row.

The New York Mets topped the Miami Marlins to complete a three game sweep on Wednesday night. With 6,150 in attendance at Marlins Park, the Mets again pounced on Miami’s bullpen to negate an eighth-inning lead.

The Crowning of a New Starter

After Garcia orchestrated a 1-2-3 first inning, Miguel Rojas smacked a no-doubter over the fence on a 2-0 pitch off of Zach Wheeler.

The home run was the second of the season for Rojas, and the sixth of his career. Rojas had hit exactly one home run in each of his first four major league seasons. He’s set a new career high with 150 games left on the schedule.

Todd Frazier reached base on Garcia in the second inning on an error by Brian Anderson. That was New York’s last baserunner until the fifth. Garcia allowed back-to-back one-out walks to Jay Bruce and Kevin Plawecki. Chad Wallach, who had hit a single in the second inning, threw out Bruce trying to steal third base. Amed Rosario closed the inning with a harmless groundout. That’s when Garcia was pulled by Mattingly after 77 pitches. Mattingly “explains” his error below.

Through an interpreter, Garcia confirms he could have kept going, but that wasn’t his decision.

Drew Steckenrider induced a trio of groundouts to get flawlessly through the seventh for the second night in a row. Then the eighth inning happened.

Coming Undone

New reliever Tayron Guerrero hit Plawecki with a pitch, then struck out Rosario to start things out. Chris O’Grady relieved him, and promptly allowed a Michael Conforto double to place two in scoring position. Adrian Gonzalez, pinching for Wheeler, hit a two-RBI single for New York’s first lead of the game, and the only one they would need.

Even so, the Mets continued to score. After an Asdrubal Cabrera single put guys on first and second, the Marlins sent out Junichi Tazawa to try and collect the final two outs. Tazawa gave up an RBI-ground rule double to Wilmer Flores, an intentional walk to Yoenis Céspedes, and a sacrifice fly to Lewis Brinson. Cabrera scored, and Brinson’s errant throw allowed Cespedes and Flores to advance. After another intentional walk, the Marlins finally got free on a Tomas Nido groundout.

But the damage was done. The bottom of the inning would see Brinson, Wallach, and Braxton Lee strike out. Tyler Cloyd worked a 1-2-3 ninth in relief. Starlin Castro closed the game by grounding in to a 5-4-3 double play.

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A Few Things

• Rojas’ homer and Wallach’s single were the only Marlin hits all day.
• I will never say that it is a good decision to remove a pitcher who is tossing a no-hitter. I don’t care if he has thrown a lot of pitches recently. That’s a possible once-in-a-lifetime thing for most pitchers. Garcia threw 44-of-77 pitches in the strike zone, and closed the game with a 75 GameScore. Counterpart Wheeler had a 74, whiffing seven in seven innings and giving up two hits and a walk.
• Cloyd looked markedly better than he had in spring training, earning a strikeout in a perfect ninth.
• Brinson’s average dropped to .140 after two strikeouts in three at bats.
• Castro’s 16-game Marlins Park hitting streak came to an end with an 0-for-4 day. He now co-owns the record with former Marlin Christian Yelich.
• Steckenrider continues to impress. He’s allowed three hits and a walk in 6 2/3 shutout innings, with eight strikeouts.

Next: Bour Explodes, Bullpen Implodes

The Miami Marlins will take a day off to recuperate tomorrow. On Friday, they’ll open a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and keep us bookmarked for all your Marlins news.