Mets vs Marlins Recap: Too little, too late

The Mets dropped the third game, and the series, to the Miami Marlins this afternoon at Citi Field, 6-4. Someone needs to change all the Mets calendars to just read “Second Saturday,” because their play on Sundays has been absolutely atrocious this year (6-14).

Jacob deGrom started for the Mets, and looked reasonably strong through his first six innings. A pair of singles to Dee Gordon and Christian Yelich put the Marlins up 1-0 in the top of the first, but that lead was quickly neutralized by a Yoenis Cespedes home run in the bottom of the inning.

In the third inning, deGrom gave up a lead off single to Adam Conley, but he was erased on a Gordon fielder’s choice. After a stolen base, Gordon scored on - you guessed it - a Yelich single. deGrom would then fly through the next three innings, striking out eight and walking none over the course of his first six innings.

Marlins starter Conley looked great over his seven innings of work, giving up just three hits and two walks, while striking out 11, his season high. The Cespedes solo shot was the only mark against Conley in what has been an inconsistent year, but this was certainly among his best performances this season.

deGrom did not fare so well in the seventh inning, giving up a lead off single to Miguel Rojas, who was sacrificed to second by Conley, and then pushed to third on a Gordon single. The next batter was Giancarlo Stanton, so you can guess how that went. Stanton hit his 45th home run, putting the Marlins up 5-1.

Josh Smoker relieved deGrom, and saw the first batted ball, hit by Yelich, bobbled by Cespedes, which allowed Yellich to get to second base. Marcell Ozuna then singled him in, putting the Fish up by five.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets started to make some noise against reliever Odrisamer Despaigne. Pinch hitter Brandon Nimmo doubled to right field to start off the inning. After a Juan Lagares ground out and a Michael Conforto walk, Cespedes doubled to left field, scoring Nimmo. Kyle Barraclough replaced Despaigne, and was greeted by a Wilmer Flores sacrifice fly and a Travis d’Arnaud single, plating two more runs, and making it 6-4 Marlins.

Erik Goeddel and Paul Sewald each tossed a scoreless inning in relief, giving up no hits or walks, and striking out one apiece. Despite their best efforts, Mets couldn’t complete the comeback, however and, despite a Gavin Cecchnini single in the bottom of the ninth, didn’t score another run and lost the game.

The Mets welcome the Diamondbacks to Citi tomorrow, with Robert Gsellman going up against Taijuan Walker.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Yoenis Cespedes, +13.1% WPA, Travis d’Arnaud +12.5% WPA
Big losers: Dominic Smith, -20.0% WPA, Jacob deGrom, -18.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Yoenis Cespedes’s solo home run in the bottom of the first
Teh sux0rest play: Dom Smith’s double play ground out in the fourth inning
Total pitcher WPA: -18.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: -31.2% WPA
GWRBI!: Giancarlo Stanton