Met vs. Marlins Recap: Take that, Home Run Sculpture

The Mets looked absolutely locked in and playoff-ready tonight in Miami, trouncing the Marlins 12-1. The Mets have now scored 59 runs since their sweep at the hands of the Braves last week.

Noah Syndergaard started for the Mets, and despite giving up a first inning run, looked magnificent. That run was the result of a bunt single by Dee Gordon, who promptly stole second, and scored on a single by Marcel Ozuna. After that, Syndergaard was locked in, striking out eight and walking none over his six innings of work. If not for his weekend bout of Strep Throat, it would not have been surprising for Syndergaard to work the seventh, but with the illness not too far in the rear view, it made sense to give him a lighter workload.

The Met bats backed up their ace with some serious offense tonight. In the second inning, Jay Bruce—who finally appears to be coming out of his month-plus slumber—pulled an upper deck home run with Curtis Granderson on first to put the Mets up 2-1. In the third, Yoenis Cespedes smacked a home run that bounced off the back wall of the gaudy Home Run Statue that adorns the Marlins Park outfield. Marlins starter Tom Koehler didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, and was the first of eight Miami pitchers Don Mattingly used in the game.

While the Mets kept scattering hits throughout the game, they didn’t score again until the eighth inning. Curtis Granderson came up with the bases loaded, and drove in two with a single to center field. The bases were quickly loaded again, and Lucas Duda unloaded them quickly, hitting a double that scored three runs.

But they weren’t done yet! In the ninth, Michael Conforto grounded out, but drove in a run in the process, which was followed by a Granderson double, and a Juan Lagares sacrifice fly, bringing in another three runs. The Lagares hit was notable, as it was the first time he has swung a bat in a game since his stint on the disabled list.

Fernando Salas, Addison Reed, and Jeurys Familia all pitched in their usual spots, and all came away unscathed.

Seth Lugo starts tomorrow for the Mets in the series finale. With their win tonight, no matter the results of the Cardinals/Reds and Giants/Rockies games, the Mets remain in the first Wild Card spot.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Noah Syndergaard, +18.6% WPA Yoenis Cespdes, +13.7% WPA, Jay Bruce, +13.2% WPA
Big losers: None
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jay Bruce’s two-run home run, +17.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Noah Syndergaard strikes out looking in the second inning, -7.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +23.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +26.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Jay Bruce’s second inning two-ruhome run