Realmuto’s HR caps comeback
Marlins score three times in ninth against A.J. Ramos
MIAMI — With a threerun lead entering the bottom of the ninth inning, the New York Mets were in position Tuesday to formally put the Marlins’ playoff hopes to rest.
It undoubtedly delayed the inevitable, but the Marlins denied their division rival the satisfaction as they rallied against A.J. Ramos, their former closer traded to New York in July.
Justin Bour started the comeback with a leadoff homer to right-center. Singles by J.T. Realmuto and Brian Anderson put runners on the corners with one out.
Ichiro Suzuki delivered the tying hit off the glove of a leaping shortstop Jose Reyes, another former Marlin.
J.T Realmuto won it 5-4 in the 10th with a walk-off homer against Paul Sewald.
Regardless of the outcome, the Colorado Rockies were in position to deal the Marlins out of the playoff picture with a win later at San Francisco.
The Marlins haven’t reached the postseason since 2003 when they qualified as a wild card and went on to win their second World Series. Only the Seattle Mariners have a longer drought, absent in October since Ichiro led them to the American League Championship Series in 2001, his rookie season in the major leagues.
The Mariners have a chance of ending theirs, beginning Tuesday four games out of the second wild card in the AL.
The match-up of starters didn’t exactly scream pitching duel.
Odrisamer Depaigne was seeking his first win for the Miami Marlins in his fifth start this season. He hadn’t won in the majors since 2015 when he went 5-9 for San Diego.
Meanwhile, Mets starter Seth Lugo was coming off his worst start of the year, an eight-run shellacking in three innings by the Cubs.
Yet there they were, in an encounter of two teams going nowhere, trading zeroes, except for each serving a solo home run in the early innings – Jose Reyes for the Mets, Christian Yelich for the Marlins.
Fortunes swung in the sixth when Despaigne left a pitch belt-high over the plate to Travis d’Arnaud, and the Mets catcher clubbed it 412 feet into the bushes in center for a tworun homer.
That, and four hits and two RBI by Reyes, had the Mets poised for victory entering the ninth.
A night after their second-highest offensive output of the season, the Marlins managed only four hits and one run in five innings off Lugo.
Yelich pushed his 18th homer just over the fence into the visitors’ bullpen in left. It was his fifth opposite-field homer of the season.
Despaigne, a Cuba native, is auditioning for next year, whether as a starter or a relief role. A new baby at home, born earlier this month, provides extra incentive.
The two homers were enough to keep Despaigne winless with a pedestrian 4.37 ERA after giving up the three runs in six innings.
The right-hander was solid early except for a 1-1 fastball that Reyes slammed off the scoreboard ribbon above the Marlins’ bullpen in right.
He got into trouble with two outs in the third, when back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases, but got Dominic Smith to hit an easy inning-ending bouncer to first.
The Marlins couldn’t build on the offensive momentum from Monday’s 13-1 romp.
A pair of double plays helped Lugo keep the Marlins in check a night after they scored 13 in a Matt Harvey start. In addition, twoout doubles by Derek Dietrich and J.T. Realmuto in separate innings went for naught.