Brinson’s Slam, Lack of Clutch Hits Doom Mets in 6-3 Loss to Marlins
Tylor Megill has been a godsend for the injury-riddled Mets this season. So, when he gave up four runs before recording an out, it was up to the Met bats to pick him up.
In short, they didn’t, losing 6-3 to the Marlins in Miami Monday night in game one of a four-game set. The Mets went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.
They’ve dropped four of their last five, and their lead is down to just 2.5 in the NL East after the Phillies beat the Nationals to climb to .500 on the year.
Things couldn’t have started much worse for Megill after the Mets went 1-2-3 in the first. Jazz Chisholm and Miguel Rojas singled, Jesus Aguilar reached on catcher interference and light-hitting cleanup hitter Lewis Brinson increased his RBI total on the season to 12 with an opposite field grand slam.
The Mets cut the Marlins 4-0 lead in half in the top of the second. Javier Baez walked, advanced to third on J.D. Davis’s single and scored on a Jesus Luzardo wild pitch. Davis was driven in by a double of the bat of the scorching-hot Brandon Drury.
Megill kept the score 4-2 after two, striking out two in the inning around Chisholm’s second hit of the game. Pete Alonso led off the top of the third with his 24th homer of the year, but the Mets weren’t able to get anything else going and headed to the bottom of the frame down 4-3.
The Marlins wasted no time in once again extending their lead to two, as Brinson singled and scored on Isan Diaz’s double. Megill rebounded to strike out the last two batters he faced, keeping the deficit at 5-3 after three.
The fourth inning proved to be the first uneventful frame of the night. Drury was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to second on Megill’s sacrifice bunt, but Kevin Pillar grounded out to leave him there.
Megill responded with is first clean inning of the night, retiring eight, nine and one in the Marlins order – including Chisholm for the first time on the night. Luzardo was equal to the task though, allowing an Alonso infield single before coaxing a 4-6-3 double play from Jeff McNeil and a Baez inning-ending strikeout.
Megill recorded his second-straight 1-2-3 inning, all on groundouts, and the Mets got into the Marlin bullpen after five innings from Luzardo in his Miami debut. Davis hit reliever David Hess’s slider deep to left, but Brinson caught it at the fence for the first out. Dom Smith took a fastball down the middle for strike three and James McCann grounded out to end the top of the sixth.
Like Luzardo, Megill’s night ended after five innings. The rookie allowed five runs (four earned), but rebounded well after the first inning grand slam to allow just one run on three hits over the next four innings. He struck out four and didn’t walk anyone.
Aaron Loup entered for the Mets and worked a painless sixth, recording two fly outs and a strikeout of Alex Jackson to cruise through the frame. Loup has a 0.38 ERA in his last 25 appearances. Sponsor this man already, Busch Light.
The appropriately-named Anthony Bender made his 37th appearance for Miami in the seventh. He started his night with a three-pitch strikeout of Drury – getting him swinging at a slider that broke roughly three feet off the plate. Brandon Nimmo – who was a late scratch from the starting lineup as he nurses a sore hamstring – pinch hit and grounded out to third. After fooling Pillar early in the at-bat, Bender drilled the struggling center fielder in the back to give the Mets a two-out base runner for Alonso. He popped out to right though, making it eight-straight Mets without a hit.
Jeurys Familia ended the seventh painlessly for the Mets, striking out Magneuris Sierra, forcing former-friend Joe Panik to ground out and retiring Chisholm on a hard liner to center. That made it 14-straight Marlins retired by Met pitchers.
The second-straight Anthony B. – this one’s surname: Bass – entered for Miami in the eighth to face the middle of the Met order. McNeil put a charge into one the other way, but Brinson ran it down on the warning track. Baez, running on a bad heel, beat out a slow roller to third to break the Mets hitless streak at nine.
Davis came up as the tying run and missed taking a 97 MPH cutter to the face by just inches, eventually fouling out on a nice play by the first baseman Aguilar. Smith jumped on the first pitch and singled, giving the Mets runners on the corners with two outs. Luis Rojas opted to pinch hit Jonathan Villar for McCann, and the super sub worked a well-earned walk to load the bases.
Marlin bench coach James Rowson – filling in for manager Don Mattingly, who has COVID-19 – opted for Dylan Floro to face Drury, who chased a fastball a foot above the strike zone, then took one right down the middle before eventually grounding out to short to strand three in the eighth.
Trevor May looked to keep the Mets within striking distance in the eighth, but was greeted by the Met-killing Rojas and his stand-up triple. May then walked Aguilar on five pitches. Brinson hit a slow roller to Baez, who had to go to first but threw it away, scoring Rojas and giving the Marlins second and third with no one out.
After intentionally walking Diaz to load the bases, Bryan De La Cruz struck out to give May his first out. Jackson lined one hard, but Baez picked it off in the hole and Sierra grounded to second to limit the damage to just one run.
Floro stuck around for the ninth, facing Michael Conforto to lead off the inning. The slumping right fielder broke out of an 0-for-13 stretch with a badly-needed double down the right field line. Pillar grounded one to short for the first out, moving Conforto to third. He was unable to score from there on Alonso’s hard-hit line out to right. McNeil hit a bullet the other way, but right at Diaz for the final out.
The Mets will look to even the series Tuesday behind Taijuan Walker (7-5, 3.71 ERA), who desperately needs to bounce back coming off three duds out of the All-Star break. The Marlins have not yet announced a starter. The action can be caught on SNY and WCBS Radio 880 at 7:10 p.m.
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