Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Mets take series from Marlins
Miami finishes season’s first half with a .500 home record
In the hours before the Marlins played the Mets on Thursday, the last game of the teams’ series and Miami’s first-half home schedule, they were quizzed about their favorite Marlins Park moments of the year. Edinson Volquez’s no-hitter on June 3 was a popular answer, as was JT Riddle’s walk-off home run on April 16.
Thursday night, New York made sure there were no late entries into that popularity contest. The Mets won, 6-3, capitalizing on a shaky start from righty Jose Urena and getting enough out of their bullpen to hold the Marlins at bay.
The Marlins brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth, their last best chance, but Justin Bour’s fly ball to center landed routinely into the glove of Curtis Granderson, much to the chagrin of the excitable home crowd.
Miami scored twice in the inning, including Giancarlo Stanton on Martin Prado’s single to left and Christian Yelich on a wild pitch. Stanton’s run was a close one, as he stumbled coming around third base and seemed to catch catcher Rene
Rivera’s glove arm between his legs. Both players were slow to get up — but fine — upon disentangling themselves.
Stanton homered in the fourth, his team-leading 21st of the year.
Mets righty Seth Lugo allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings, mostly sailing along until the sixth — which could have been even better for the Marlins had Dee Gordon (walk) not been caught stealing second before Stanton started a two-out rally.
Urena pitched better than his line score — five runs on six hits in six innings — suggests. Only three of the runs were earned.
The Mets scored three times in the third inning with a rally that included several batted balls that could have been outs: a grounder to Riddle that ended in a throwing error, a high chopper to third that went for a single, a bloop down the left-field line that fell in fair for a double.
Urena settled in to retire his final 11 batters, finishing at 105 pitches, one shy of his season high.
When JT Riddle grounded into a double play to end the bottom of the fifth, stranding Urena’s would-be pinch-hitter on deck, manager Don Mattingly showed a rare willingness to squeeze an extra couple of outs out of his starter, sending Urena out for the sixth at 93 pitches.
For a second day in a row, the Mets jumped out to an early advantage and made the Marlins’ starter work a long first inning. Jay Bruce had an RBI single and T.J. Rivera and RBI double as Urena threw 25 pitches.
The Marlins finish the first half with a 21-21 home record. On the road, where they will spend the next 10 games before the All-Star break, they are 14-21.