Mets complete sweep of Marlins behind Matz, four home runs

The Mets continued their incredible hot streak on Wednesday afternoon, completing a four-game sweep of the Miami Marlins with a 7-2 victory, their sixth straight overall.

The Mets followed a welcome recent trend by sprinting out to an early lead. The team scored in the first inning for the seventh straight game, staking Steven Matz to an early 2-0 lead. With two outs, Michael Conforto drew a walk, bring up the suddenly-hot Pete Alonso. Alonso, who launched a home run for the third straight game—his 37th of the season.

The Marlins looked to answer right back in the top of the second. Matz walked leadoff hitter Garrett Cooper, then surrendered back-to-back singles to Starlin Castro and Lewis Brinson. Brinson’s single brought home Cooper and advanced Castro to third with none out. It looked as if a tie game was imminent, but the next batter, Harold Ramirez, hit a chopper to third. Castro was caught in-between, and Todd Frazier easily threw him out at the plate to short circuit the threat and preserve the slim 2-1 lead.

The lead expanded quickly in the bottom of the third. Matz led off the inning with a single, and with two outs came around to score when Michael Conforto lofted a two-run home run down the line just inside the right field foul pole in the bottom of the third to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. The homer was the 100th of Conforto’s exciting young career.

Matz would surrender a solo home run to Brian Anderson in the sixth, but was otherwise solid, striking out seven over 6.2 innings. Justin Wilson came in with two outs in the seventh and a runner on second and surrendered a single, but struck out Jon Berti and preserve the 4-2 lead. Jeff McNeil and Conforto—again—would homer in the bottom of the seventh to provide a comfortable cushion for the bullpen, and Jeurys Familia and Luis Avilan would pitch scoreless innings to close out the win.

The victory was the Mets’ 13th in their last 14 games. 1990 marks the last time the team has had such a successful run. The Mets will have a well-deserved off-day on Thursday before welcoming in their division rivals—and current Wild Card leaders—the Washington Nationals, in what will be a much bigger series than one would have possibly dared to imagine at the All-Star Break.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners:P , Pete Alonso, +19.4%, Michael Conforto, +19.1%, Steven Matz, +15.0% (+12.3% pitching, +2.7% hitting)
Big losers: None
Total pitcher WPA: +17.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: +32.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pete Alonso’ two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, +20.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Brian Anderson’s solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, -7.2%