Mets Sweep Doubleheader Against the Marlins
J. D. Davis, Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso homered in an electric seventh-inning rally, lifting the Mets over the visiting Miami Marlins, 5-4, on Monday night for a doubleheader sweep that moved them above .500 for the first time since early May.
The Mets won the opener by 6-2 as Jeff McNeil welcomed Robert Dugger to the major leagues with a home run on his first pitch, Amed Rosario broke a 1-1 tie with a third-inning homer and Jacob deGrom gave himself a three-run cushion with a two-run single.
The Mets (57-56) had not been above .500 since they were 16-15 before play on May 3. They dropped to 40-51 after losing their first game of second half but are 17-5 since, winning 11 of their last 12. The Mets trailed by eight games for the second National League wild-card spot before play on July 25 but started the doubleheader just three games back.
“We know we’re far from our goal,” Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said. “We have to continue to climb and climb and climb, and scratch and claw.”
Also on Monday, Mets second baseman Robinson Cano went back on the injured list, this time with a torn left hamstring. He hurt himself while rounding first base during a game at Pittsburgh on Sunday. The team said an exam had determined that surgery was not necessary but did not give a timetable for Cano’s return.
In his first season with the Mets after being acquired from Seattle, the 36-year-old Cano was limited to one game between May 22 and June 16 because of a strained left quadriceps. He is hitting .252 with 10 homers and 32 R.B.I., including nine hits in his last 15 at-bats.
Curtis Granderson gave Miami a 4-2 lead against his former team in the nightcap with a tiebreaking, two-run double in the fifth against Robert Gsellman.
Davis homered off Jeff Brigham (1-1) leading off the seventh, and Conforto hit a 440-foot drive with two outs that went over the second deck seats in the right-field second deck, just inside the foul pole. Alonso followed with a low laser shot just inside the left-field pole for his 35th homer, his first since July 26, giving the Mets three home runs in an inning for the first time in exactly two years.
Jeurys Familia (3-1) pitched a hitless inning, and with the crowd of 29,645 roaring, Seth Lugo got six outs for his second save this season and the fifth of his career. Conforto hit a two-run single in the first.
Dugger (0-1), brought up despite a 9.34 earned run average in seven starts at Class AAA, gave up six runs, five hits and four walks in five innings, striking out three, hitting two batters and throwing a wild pitch.
Dugger, a 24-year-old right-hander, became the first starting pitcher to give up a home run on the first pitch of his debut since the Yankees’ Derek Jeter — the Marlins’ current chief executive — went deep off the California Angels’ Jason Dickson as a rookie on Aug. 21, 1996, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Miami’s Isan Diaz also had a memorable home run in the opener, connecting off deGrom — the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner — in the sixth inning of his big league debut for his first hit.
DeGrom (7-7) struck out eight in seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He retired 15 of his last 16 batters.
Post a Comment