Mets vs. Marlins recap: T.J Rivera shows the Fish City Island

Expectations were low for the Mets on Friday night with Rafael Montero on the mound, but if you tuned in, the first few innings went so poorly that you were probably questioning why that was how you chose to spend your Friday night in the first place. But if you stuck around, the team rewarded you with a dramatic comeback victory.

While the Mets took an early 1-0 lead on a solo home run from T.J. Rivera in the bottom of the first, it didn’t exactly feel like that would last. Montero was pitching like his usual self, which isn’t a good thing, but managed to mostly avoid damage through three innings as he gave up just one run in the third.

In the fourth, though, things came crashing down, even though he had two outs with a runner on second base. He gave up two more runs before he was lifted from the game by Terry Collins and left runners on second and third for Josh Smoker, who allowed both of them to score and proceeded to give up two runs entirely of his own to put the Mets down 7-1. That left Montero with a 10.45 ERA and Smoker with an 8.04 ERA on the season.

But thanks to a two-run home run from the much-maligned Curtis Granderson in the bottom half of that inning, the Mets weren’t quite out of it. And in the seventh, they beat up on Brad Ziegler with a series of singles and doubles, the last of which was a two-run double from T.J. Rivera that tied the game and ended Ziegler’s night before he could even record an out. Kyle Barraclough took over from there and struck out the first two batters he faced, but after the Marlins opted give Granderson an intentional pass, Barraclough walked Wilmer Flores to force in the go-ahead run.

That was it for the Mets’ scoring, but it was enough. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia shut down the Marlins in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, after Fernando Salas, Hansel Robles, and Jerry Blevins had combined for two-and-one-third scoreless innings of work.

They might not be able to rely on Rafael Montero for another start, but the Mets somehow managed to win this one. And given the way things have been going for the team in general over the past few weeks, that feels like a pretty decent accomplishment, and it leaves them with a 13-15 record and a chance to get back to .500 if they can beat the Marlins twice more this weekend.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: T.J. Rivera, +34.2% WPA, Wilmer Flores, +23.7% WPA, Jeurys Familia, +15.2% WPA, Addison Reed, +11.5% WPA, Rene Rivera, +11.2% WPA, Michael Conforto, +10.4% WPA
Big losers: Rafael Montero, -22.6% WPA, Josh Smoker, -19.7% WPA, Neil Walker, -18.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: T.J. Rivera doubles to tie the game in the seventh, +29.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Justin Bour doubles to put the Marlins up 5-1 in the fourth, -13.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -12.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: +62.3% WPA
GWRBI!: Wilmer Flores