OF rips effort
Marlins hold playersonly meeting after Giancarlo Stanton rips team for lack of fire.
NEW YORK — Even the Marlins’ manager didn’t know what was discussed Saturday in the playersonly meeting before the game.
Whatever was said, words failed to alter the recent trend of sour results, as the Marlins dropped their third consecutive game of the series to the Mets, 5-4 at sold-out Citi Field (41,844).
Giancarlo Stanton criticized the team’s play as lacking fire after their loss Friday. Whether or not the meeting served to enhance team unity, the Marlins did show heart in mounting a late rally Saturday.
Chipping away at a fiverun deficit, they scored four runs in the final two innings before leaving the tying run on in the ninth when Christian Yelich struck out for the fourth time with Stanton on deck.
“The spirit was there, “said Dee Gordon, who tied a career best with five hits. “Guys played hard, gave great at-bats. We didn’t get what we wanted, but we’ve got to build on this and go from there.”
Stanton’s streak of home runs in five consecutive games against the Mets fizzled as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He failed to deliver in a key situation in the sixth with two runners on, swinging through a 3-2 fastball (96 mph) that appeared out of the zone.
Gordon had three RBI, including a two-run single with two outs in the ninth. But Miami’s 3-4-5 hitters were a combined 0-for-11 before Michael Morse hit a leadoff homer in the ninth.
“I’ll tell you what, when we put it all together — pitching, defense and hitting — there’s going to hell to pay,” said right-hander Mat Latos. “We’ve got a great ballclub, and I believe that. It sucks real bad right now. The only positive we can take out of it is we know what we’re capable of, and it’s early.”
The path out of the early season funk (3-9) won’t get easier as the Marlins face Mets ace Matt Harvey this afternoon in the series finale.
The killing blow Saturday came when light-hitting shortstop Wilmer Flores launched his second home run of the series, a two-run blast off rookie Jose Urena in the sixth.
Latos turned in his best outing for the Marlins, allowing two runs and six hits in five innings, including a solo homer by Travis d’Arnaud. But it wasn’t good enough to prevent the Mets from stretching their winning streak to seven, the longest in the majors.
“We’ve run into a couple teams that are just swinging it, and they are playing good baseball right now,” Latos said. “I think I made one bad mistake, and that was the inside fastball to d’Arnaud.”
The Marlins were shut down for seven innings by 2014 Rookie of the Year Ja- cob deGrom, who held them to six singles.
For the first time in the series, the Mets scored first, as rookie Eric Campbell singled, stole second and scored on Juan Lagares’ bloop single in the second inning.
It was typical of the differing fortunes of the teams in this series. On the stolen- base attempt, the pitch got away from Jarrod Saltalamacchia. And, when a scoring opportunity surfaces, the Mets have made a habit of cashing in, while the Marlins have not.
That was underscored the next inning when the Marlins had runners at the corners and Yelich struck out to leave them stranded.