Miami Marlins Display Impressive Pitching in Win Over Mets

The Miami Marlins topped the New York Mets by a 7-1 final score with 3,727 in the house at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Miami Marlins and the New York Mets traded zeros for the first three innings as Jose Urena struck out three and surrendered three hits. He also hit a batter. Josh A. Smith relieved him and pitched a hitless fourth, but did allow a walk.

Adam Conley then came in to pitch the fifth, and surrendered a walk but kept the Mets otherwise off the basepaths by putting nine-of-14 pitches over the plate. In the bottom of that inning, Jonathan Villar went deep for the first time this spring, with a two-run shot which also brought home Sean Rodriguez.

The Marlins doubled their lead in the sixth after a clean pitching performance from Jordan Holloway. Miguel Rojas did the damage with a two-out, two-run bases-loaded double that scored Lewin Diaz and Brian Miller.

Holloway followed with another clean inning of work to keep the Marlins shutout intact into the bottom of the seventh with a 4-0 lead. Lewis Brinson started that frame with a leadoff triple, then scored on a Magneuris Sierra one-out-double. Sierra scored on a Lewin Diaz double, then Diaz scampered home on a failed pickoff attempt.

With no chance for a comeback in the cards, the Marlins entrusted Jorge Guzman to preserve their seven-run lead and the shutout by giving him a chance at a six-out save. Guzman didn’t have passable stuff, however, getting only 11-of-30 pitches in the strike zone. He managed only one out and surrendered the lone Mets run on four walks in the inning. Pat Venditte relieved him with the bases loaded, and induced a quick Joey Terdoslavich double play ball to end the threat.

Alex Vesia came in to get the last three outs, which he collected without allowing a baserunner.

The Marlins victory was their first after dropping two following a six-game win-streak to open 2020 Spring Training.

Offensively, only Brinson and Rojas collected multiple hits for the Miami Marlins. Villar’s first spring home run gives Miami a total of 14 for the pre-season, second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers 15.

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Although it was nice to see a relatively clean inning from Conley, it was much nicer yet to see a perfect inning from his possible replacement in Vesia.

Vesia, called a “dark horse” multiple times by the Marlins radio-crew, has now pitched four innings and allowed one hit and two walks while striking out three. That performance follows an Arizona Fall League performance that saw Vesia strike out 16 and allow four hits and two walks in 10 1/3 scoreless innings.

Prior to that, Vesia had whiffed 100 in just 66 2/3 innings through three minor league levels last season. He was 7-2 with a 1.76 ERA and a 0.945 WHIP through his travels last season, and was notably better at each higher subsequent level of play.

Vesia breaking camp with the Miami Marlins after just a year-and-a-half in the system would be a great success story. Especially after being selected in the 17th round in 2018.