Miami Marlins Top New York Mets on Strong Pitching and Timely Hitting

On a cool night at Citi Field in New York City, The Miami Marlins defeated the New York Mets, 5-1.

With 22,195 fans in attendance on a cloudy, 57 degree mid-May day, the Miami Marlins jumped out to an early lead over the Mets. They would cruise to victory on Caleb Smith‘s magic arm and a three-run second inning.

The Nitty Gritty

J.T. Realmuto collected a one-out single in the first inning. Justin Bour had a strong eight-pitch at bat, but flew out to center field for the second out of the frame. Batting cleanup, Starlin Castro grounded into a fielders’ choice to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Wilmer Flores worked a five-pitch walk out of Miami starter Smith, but the Mets were powerless to convert anything.

The second inning would see the Miami Marlins score all the runs they would need. They started the frame with three straight hits. After Brian Anderson led off with a double, Derek Dietrich hit a first-pitch single and Miguel Rojas laced a 1-2 RBI-single into center field for an early lead. Lewis Brinson flew out to left, then Smith hit a fly bunt that looked like an early out. Mets third baseman Jose Reyes hesitated to field it, hurried the throw, and everyone was safe.

With the bases jacked for Martin Prado, he popped a high one for the infield fly. Realmuto followed with a two-RBI-single to make it 3-0, Marlins. It was the eventual game-winning hit. Smith showed heads-up base running instincts to move to third on the single.

In the bottom half, Tomas Nido hit a sacrifice fly out to Anderson in right field to score Jose Bautista. Bautista, recently released by the Atlanta Braves, signed with the Mets through free agency earlier in the day.

The Middle Part

Smith and Mets starter Zach Wheeler then traded 1-2-3 innings in the third inning. Prado made a pretty good defensive play on Asdrubal Cabrera‘s grounder to end the frame.

Both pitchers struck out two in another perfect inning for the fourth. In the fifth, Justin Bour hit a two-out single into right field, and Castro was safe on an error that allowed both the runners to set up in scoring position for Anderson, but Anderson whiffed on a 1-2 sinker to end the inning with the Marlins still leading, 3-1. The pitchers again traded 1-2-3 innings in the sixth.

Robert Gsellman came into the game to pitch for the Mets in the seventh. He allowed Realmuto to collect his third hit of the day, and followed that by walking Bour on five pitches. Castro showed a lot of patience in his at bat, working Gsellman to 10 pitches, but ended by grounding out to shortstop. Smith followed that by working a near-perfect inning. After getting Michael Conforto to fly out just short of the 370 sign in center field (and a nice play by Brinson), he struck out Bautista on a full count. He then walked Reyes on five pitches. At 104 total for the day, Donnie Baseball pulled him in favor of Drew Steckenrider. Steck retired pinch-hitter Devin Mesoraco to end the inning.

Skip to the End

Former Miami Marlins pitcher A.J. Ramos pitched the eighth for the Mets. He walked Anderson on a full count, then Dietrich took him deep to right an estimated 385 feet. It was Dietrich’s fourth round-tripper of the campaign, and extended Miami’s lead to 5-1. Ramos then induced a Rojas fly ball, a Brinson whiff, and a JB Shuck flyout to center field.

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Kyle Barraclough worked the eighth for the Miami Marlins. He allowed a pinch-hit double to Adrian Gonzalez before getting Amed Rosario to groundout to Rojas. Brandon Nimmo drew a walk, then Bear Claw got Cabrera to ground into a classic 4-6-3 double play to clear the deck.

Jacob Rhame came in to pitch the ninth for the Mets, and rolled through Prado, Realmuto, and Bour without issue. Brad Ziegler then came in to mop up in a non-save situation. He got Luis Guillorme to ground to Rojas unassisted on a 1-1 pitch. Conforto hit an 0-1 offering to the same spot with the same result, and Jay Bruce laced the next pitch into center field to be easily collected by Brinson. A very easy six-pitch inning for Ziegler.

In the Minors

Miami’s feeder system wasn’t very successful today.

The New Orleans Baby Cakes lost to the Omaha Storm Chasers, 9-2 in the PCL. Tyler Cloyd got racked in that one for eight earned runs in five innings. Magneuris Sierra led the Cakes with a pair of singles.

The Jupiter Hammerheads dropped a 4-3 decision to the Daytona Tortugas. Joe Dunand went deep for the sixth time this season, leading the team with three hits.

In Greensboro, the Grasshoppers lost to the Kannapolis Intimidators, 9-3. Miami’s 2017 first-round draft pick, Trevor Rogers, got his professional debut. He took the loss, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks in three frames. He did strike out five. It’s important to remember, however, that Rogers is only 20-years-old.

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