Mets vs. Marlins Recap: Run Jay Run

Curtis Granderson got the Mets off to a fast start again in the first inning. While he only led off the game with a double this time, the Mets still managed to give their starter a cushion in the top of the first for the fourth straight game. Granderson came around on a clutch two-out single by Jay Bruce, who came rumbling in himself on a T.J. Rivera double.

Staked to a 2-0 lead, Seth Lugo looked strong early—helped out in the bottom of the second by a nice running catch by Bruce in Marlins Park’s deep right-center alley.

Bruce’s running wasn’t done there, though. Granderson led off the top of the third by reaching on a tough error on JT Riddle—and a nice call by first base umpire Mark Wegner, as Justin Bour’s “stretch” just took his foot off the bag. This opened the proverbial floodgates, as the Mets mostly dinked their way to three runs in the inning. A Yoenis Cespedes infield single was followed by a bloop RBI double from Bruce and a solid T.J. Rivera RBI single. Then Bruce showed off his wheels one more time, successfully testing Giancarlo Stanton’s arm on a semi-deep Jose Reyes sacrifice fly.

It looked like Lugo would cruise from there, but for the second straight outing he got into trouble in the sixth. A Dee Gordon walk was erased when he was caught stealing with Stanton at the plate on a huge throw by Rene Rivera. This loomed even larger as the Marlins strung together three straight hits, then scored a second run in the inning on a wild pitch to cut the Met lead to 5-3. Lugo retired Justin Bour on a fly out to center to finish the inning.

The Marlins had chances in each inning thereafter, but the Met bullpen managed to keep them off the scoreboard the rest of the way, even surviving a Stanton at-bat against Josh Edgin in a late-and-close situation. Jerry Blevins, Edgin, and Addison Reed each threw a scoreless inning to seal the game—and the series.

The Mets closed their 10-game road trip 5-5, somewhat unbelievably after the way the trip started out in Los Angeles. They return home to Citi Field to take on the Phillies Friday night. Also, with a victory in his sixth straight road start, Seth Lugo etched his name in the Mets’ record book next to, oh...just Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Jay Bruce, +19.7% WPA, T.J. Rivera, +14.8% WPA, Curtis Granderson, +10.9% WPA
Big losers: None
The aw3s0mest play: Jay Bruce RBI double in the top of the third inning, +10.5%
The sux0rest play: Martin Prado RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning, -8.1%
Total pitcher WPA: 20.9% WPA+
Total batter WPA: 29.1% WPA+
GWRBI!: T.J. Rivera