METS SLIDE HITS 4
De Grom fails to halt losing streak as Marlins rally for 5-3 win
Miguel Rojas hit a tiebreaking RBI single during Miami’s four-run sixth inning against Jacob deGrom, and the Marlins beat the New York Mets 5-3 on Monday.
Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson homered for Miami, which had dropped four in a row prior to traveling to New York for the makeup of a game postponed last Thursday, when the Mets and Marlins took the field for 42 seconds of silence before walking off in a protest of racial injustice.
Miami was outscored 18-7 while being swept over the weekend by the Tampa Bay Rays.
“We haven’t been great lately, especially at home,” manager Don Mattingly said. “But we’ve hung in there. This trip is like a last straw-type thing. That was a sore spot. It could lead to a lot of complaining. But it was one of those things we had to get past.”
“To do it in this fashion is a really good feeling for our team.”
Miami also was active at the trade deadline, announcing a pair of moves. Outfielder Starling Marte was acquired in a deal with Arizona for pitchers Caleb Smith and Humberto Mejia and a player
to be named. Jonathan Villar was traded to Toronto for a player to be named.
Villar started Monday’s game at second base and made a diving catch in shallow center to rob the Mets of a run in the fifth. He was replaced by a pinch hitter in the sixth.
Robinson Cano homered and Jeff McNeil had two hits and an RBI for the Mets, who lost their fourth consecutive game. But reinforcements are on the way.
In separate trades with Texas, the Mets acquired catcher Robinson Chirinos and cash considerations for a player to be named, and got infielder Todd Frazier back for a player to be named. They also picked up reliever Miguel Castro from Baltimore in exchange for minor league pitcher Kevin Smith and a player to be named or cash considerations.
Frazier played for New York each of the previous two seasons, hitting .251 with 21 homers and 67 RBIs last year.
DeGrom, the two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner, carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth. Cooper then got Miami on the board with a leadoff drive, and Matt Joyce reached on an error by first baseman Pete Alonso.
Joyce scored the tying run on Lewin Diaz’s oneout double, and Rojas’ twoout single brought home Diaz. Jorge Alfaro followed with an RBI double.
“I had a good feel for everything early on,” deGrom said. “Cooper there, threw a bad slider and then just wasn’t able to execute when I needed to.”
Only one of the four runs charged to deGrom (21) was earned. The righthander hadn’t allowed four runs in an inning since he gave up five runs in the second against Milwaukee on April 26, 2019. He actually lowered his ERA from 1.80 to 1.76.
DeGrom faced the Marlins for the fourth straight start — the first time a pitcher has faced the same opponent four consecutive times since the New York Giants’ Freddie Fitzsimmons did so against the Cincinnati Reds in 1929. He allowed seven runs over 24 innings for the Mets, who won the first three games.
“His stuff is always good, even when it’s not picture perfect,” Mattingly said. “It’s just a handful every time. You don’t catch him on a bad day very often.”
Anderson hit a leadoff drive in the eighth for the Marlins, who stole four bases in five attempts.
“This is huge,” Cooper said. “I don’t think many people wanted to do this trip, but we sucked it up and got a win.”
Trevor Rogers (1-0) pitched five effective innings for his first major league win. He allowed five hits, struck out five and walked two in his second career start.
Brandon Kintzler worked around a leadoff single for Andres Gimenez in the ninth to earn his seventh save.