Series victory
Gordon’s speed is driving force behind series victory
Gordon has Mets in knots as Marlins win 6-4.
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton homered again and Adam Conley struck out a career-high 11 batters in the Miami Marlins’ 6-4 win over the New York Mets, but the man who changed the game Sunday was Dee Gordon. And the skill that changed the game was his speed.
Gordon was in the middle of all of the Marlins’ rallies, his fleet feet setting the table for Stanton and Christian Yelich behind him. He finished 2 for 5 with two stolen bases and three runs to boost Miami to another series win — a third in a row for a team that is, all of a sudden, only six games back of a wild-card spot.
The Mets felt Gordon’s impact most in the seventh when, with the Marlins ahead by just one, he sent a routine grounder to shortstop. Amed Rosario, a 21-year-old playing in his 19th major league game, hesitated in throwing to first, allowing Gordon to beat it out for a single.
On the next pitch, Stanton turned on Jacob deGrom’s fastball inside for his 45th home run of the season, this one a three-run shot.
“I was just running fast like I’m supposed to, getting down the line,” Gordon said. “That’s my job, to run the bases the right way.”
Said Stanton: “That changed the whole dynamic of my at-bat for sure.”
In the first and third innings, Gordon stole second and later scored when Yelich singled off the glove of third baseman Wilmer Flores, putting Miami ahead both times.
“I was just running fast like I’m supposed to ... That’s my job, to run the bases the right way.” Dee Gordon, Marlins’ second baseman
That, plus Stanton’s homer, was plenty for the left-handed Conley, who turned in arguably his best start of the year.
Conley had a lot of strikeouts and a little of everything else. He allowed one run on three hits, walking two batters and hitting another. He also threw a wild pitch, singled and struck out the side on 10 pitches in the sixth inning.
“Better as I went, definitely more efficient,” Conley said. “On a day like today, command of the changeup’s good. Command of the slider’s good. Didn’t run into any trouble with the fastball other than [on a Yoenis Cespedes homer]. It’s obviously a lot easier to manage those types of things when you’re able to do what you want to do.”
Conley induced 18 whiffs on the day, including nine on sliders. Those are both career-bests, according to Brooks Baseball.
“For me, just really encouraged in contrast to my last start, where I didn’t feel like I could do anything I wanted to do,” Conley said.
Conley matched deGrom, the Mets’ ace, inning for inning. Neither was particularly efficient early on — they averaged about 20 pitches per innings through three — but both settled in. The difference was the seventh. deGrom allowed Stanton’s long ball, while Conley worked around a single in a nine-pitch inning.
The Mets made it close with three runs off of right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne (two scoring after righty Kyle Barraclough entered) in the eighth. But Brad Ziegler ended it by collecting his sixth save in six chances since being named closer late last month.
And with that, the Marlins got another step closer to playoff contention. The Rockies and Diamondbacks are still the wildcard leaders, and the Brewers and Cardinals are in the running and ahead of the Marlins.
“We’re not worried about standings or anything right now,” Stanton said. “We have to keep pushing the envelope and see where we’re at in a month.”