Mets’ Colon masters Marlins
NEW YORK — This was one for the aged.
In a game that matched two of the three oldest players in the major leagues, Bartolo Colon got the best of the Marlins and Ichiro Suzuki in a 4-1 victory Friday that gave the Mets their first six-game winning streak since April 21-27, 2011.
While the Mets are alone in first place in the National League East this far into a season for the first time since May 1, 2010, the Marlins are slogging along in last place at 3-8 after a second consecutive defeat.
Colon, who like Ichiro is 41— only Colorado’s LaTroy Hawkins, at 42, is older — allowed only a first-inning home run to Giancarlo Stanton in seven innings.
Ichiro, who started in center field, had one of six well-scattered hits off Colon, but it was of no consequence against the veteran right-hander who entertained 38,753 at Citi Field with his mastery.
“Other than Giancarlo’s home run, we really couldn’t get anything going off Bartolo. Give him credit. This guy knows how to pitch,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. “He works on the corners and he doesn’t give in. I’ve seen him do that a lot.”
Colon improved to 3-0 after three starts. His performance, both on the mound and at bat, took some luster off a memorable week for Marlins righthander David Phelps that began with the birth of his son, Jack on Monday.
Filling in Friday for injured All-Star Henderson Alvarez, Phelps allowed only one hit in 4 innings. But his control faltered in the fifth, setting the stage for Colon to drive in only the seventh run of a career that began in 1997, with a sacrifice fly that tied it 1-1.
“I left a fastball up to the pitcher. All he had to do was make contact with it. You tip your cap to him. It’s frustrating,” Phelps said.
Phelps sailed through four hitless innings. He retired 14 of the first 15 hitters he faced before walking Eric Campbell with one out in the fifth. Wilmer Flores, who hit a three-run homer off Jarred Cosart on Thursday, followed with a solid single to right for the lone hit off Phelps.
More costly was the walk that followed to Anthony Recker, as Phelps missed with a 3-2 breaking ball. He thought he had strike three with a fastball on the previous pitch.
That loaded the bases for Colon. The ageless wonder cracked a medium fly to center, deep enough to score Campbell. It was the second RBI of the season for Colon, who spent most of it in the American League where he rarely batted. Before driving in the run against the Braves on April 12, he’d gone without one since 2005.
“That was one of the things that I was frustrated about with the walk to Recker was that I had the pitcher on deck. That’s a big at-bat right there with two on,” Phelps said. “I’ve defintely got to make a better pitch to the pitcher and try to get a ground ball right there.”
Brad Hand took the loss after serving consecutive singles to Juan Lagares, Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer to open the sixth. That led to two runs on Cuddyer’s hit and Campbell’s sacrifice fly.
Phelps was staked to an early lead as Stanton launched an opposite-field home run to right-center in the first, as he did in Thursday’s series opener. It was his fifth consecutive game against the Mets with a homer, joining some notable company. The other sluggers to put together such a streak against the Mets were Hank Aaron and Ryan Howard.