Mets lose to Miami behind 2 Reyes errors and no offense
With the buzz of the newest Met, Jose Bautista, arriving and slotting right into the starting lineup, Mets fans were excited to see some power from the right side with Frazier and Cespedes on the DL.
Zack Wheeler on the mound for the Mets hit trouble in the second inning. The second inning has been a tough one for the Mets pitchers as of recent, allowing at least a run in the second inning in 3 of the last 4 games. Wheeler gave up 3 straight hits to start the inning, allowing Miami to jump to an early 1-0 lead. After a lineout for the first out of the inning, opposing pitcher Caleb Smith popped up a bunt to Reyes at third, who took too much time deciding to throw to second or first, and didn't record an out on the play. Had he thrown to second, it would've been an easy inning ending double play. Prado popped out for the second out, but Wheeler couldn't fully escape the jam as the coveted catcher J.T. Realmuto grounded one back up the middle and 2 runs scored to make it 3-0 Miami. He got Bour swinging to end the inning.
The Mets quickly answered with Jose Bautista, their newest pickup getting on with a leadoff double down the left field line. Reyes got him over with a groundout and Tomas Nido picked up his second RBI of the season with a sac fly to right to make it 3-1 Marlins.
Wheeler settled in to retire 9 in a row after the 2-run single. He finally allowed a hit to Bour with 2 outs in the 5th, and an infield single to Castro and an error by Reyes, his second of the game, allowed the runners to advance. Wheeler bucked down though to Anderson on a strikeout, the perseverance the Mets have been craving from Wheeler for some time now.
Wheeler got stretched into the sixth and got through it unscathed, striking out 9 over 6 innings and allowing 3 runs, only 1 earned, so a quality start from Zack.
The Mets offense continued to stay quiet through the 6th inning as Robert Gsellman came on in relief of Wheeler. Gsellman got the first 2 outs quickly, but had to fight for the third. A single and a walk set the Marlins up, but an 11 pitch battle with Starlin Castro ended with a groundout to shortstop to end the threat.
AJ Ramos, coming off one of his best outings of the year, nearly gave up a home run to Anderson before walking him to lead off the inning. Unfortunately, the next hitter, Dietrich launched one into the bullpen in right center field to extend Miami's lead to 5-1.
The Mets biggest threat of the night started with a leadoff double by Gonzalez, and Nimmo's one out walk set up runners on the corners for Asdrubal Cabrera, who grounded into an inning ending double play.
Jacob Rhame came in for the 9th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
The 9th was the easiest inning Brad Ziegler has ever pitched in his MLB career, needed just 6 pitches to secure the win.
The Marlins beat the Mets for the first time all year. Of course over a 162 game season, the team will look flatter some nights compared to others, but tonight may as well have been a McDonald's hamburger. The Mets fall to 24-20 and will turn to deGrom tomorrow to try and take the series from Miami in the rubber game.
