Mets vs. Marlins Recap: Cruel summer

Summer is in its final days and mercifully the Mets’ season won’t be too far behind as they added another loss to a lost season. This one was of the walk-off variety, and for awhile it looked like this game would be a stress-free win, but it fell apart, and it fell apart quickly in the 5-4 loss. On the day when baseball set a new home run record for most home runs hit in a season, the long ball played a big factor in this one, and it ultimately won the Marlins the game in extras.

Seth Lugo got the start for the Mets and put together a nice outing after a rough one. He was on a pitch count and lasted only five innings but was generally effective. He got some help from a replay in the first when the umpires initially ruled Christian Yelich safe at first on a potential double play ball. The call was overturned and the Mets were out of the inning.

Lugo again got the help of a double play ball in the second and seemed to be cruising into the fourth inning. In the fourth however, Yelich took him deep to left but he escaped the inning without allowing further damage. The righty’s night was done after the fifth. He allowed just one run on four hits. He struck out three and walked one.

The Mets also used the long ball to get on the board in this one. Jose Reyes initiated the scoring with a solo home run in the first off Miami starter Odrisamer Despaigne. The shortstop had a good night at the plate with four hits and two RBIs. After a dreadful first half, Reyes has turned it on in the final month of the season as his future with the Mets remains uncertain.

Travis d’Arnaud is another Met who has looked much better lately after muddling through much of the season. He showed off his power and initially gave the Mets the lead in the sixth when he blasted a two-run home run to center in the sixth.

With the score 3-1 it was up to the bullpen to make the score stand up. Josh Smoker, Jeurys Familia, and Jerry Blevins each walked a batter in their appearances but they all didn’t allow any runs to score.

The Mets had an opportunity to blow the game open in the eighth when they loaded the bases with two-out. After a long at-bat by Juan Lagares he lined out to second to end the inning. They did however tack on a run in the ninth when Phillip Evans finally reached base after hitting the ball hard all night. After moving to second on a sacrifice bunt, he came home on Jose Reyes’s fourth hit of the night and the Mets held a 4-1 lead.

With the chance for the save, AJ Ramos came in to face his former team. Save opportunities have been tough to come by with this team, and Ramos showed some rust over the weekend in the series against the Braves. His night got off to a rough start when Justin Bour greeted him with a home run. After the trying runs reached base with one-out, Ramos struck out Dee Gordon on three pitches.

But alas, despite coming so close to getting out of it, A.J. Ellis singled home the second run of the inning, and Ichiro Suzuki’s single was just out of the reach of Jose Reyes which tied the game. Giancarlo Stanton walked, and with the bases loaded Terry Collins brought in Paul Sewald to face Yelich. Sewald struck out Yelich to send the game into extra innings.

Dominic Smith singled to lead off the top of the tenth, but never got any farther than first. The Marlins did not have that problem in the bottom of the inning, when J.T. Realmuto sent everyone home with a walk-off round-tripper against Sewald.

Autumn will be ushered in on Friday, but for the Mets that is just a signal that the offseason is almost upon them and they will have some work to do as they look towards Spring.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Jose Reyes +20.7%, Travis d’Arnaud +18.5%, Seth Lugo +14.9%
Big losers: AJ Ramos -61.8%, Paul Sewald -20.9%, Juan Lagares -13.8%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Travis d’Arnaud home run in sixth
Teh sux0rest play: Ichiro Suzuki single in ninth
Total pitcher WPA: -43.9%
Total batter WPA: -6.1%
GWRBI!: J.T. Realmuto