Unable to take advantage of Miami Marlins’ comedy of errors, a punchless New York Mets offense dropped the third game of their four-game set in Florida on Sunday 4-2.
Mets starter Christian Scott’s first win continues to elude him after allowing three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks, though a promising start was derailed in the fourth inning when Jazz Chisholm bashed a three-run home run to give Miami a 3-1 lead.
New York (50-48) scratched the game’s opening run in the top of the fourth inning when Luis Torrens managed to line an 0-2 sacrifice fly to right field that scored Pete Alonso.
Alonso was allowed to move up 90 feet to third when Marlins catcher Nick Fortes attempted to throw behind Mark Vientos at first base — the ball instead hitting Vientos in the head and caroming up the line.
Scott gave it right back when Chisholm lifted his 13th home run of the season, a three-run shot, with one out in the bottom of the frame.
The youngster’s issue with the long ball continues as the hanging slider resulted in the eighth home run in 46.2 innings pitched in the majors this season. Six of those eight round-trippers have come with men on base.
Another Fortes throwing error sparked an immediate Mets answer in the fifth. The Miami catcher pounced on a Harrison Bader dribbler leading off the inning, but his spinning throw sailed over first baseman Josh Bell and down the right-field line.
After Brandon Nimmo drew a walk, a struggling JD Martinez ripped a single to left to score Bader and bring the Mets to within one. It was Martinez’s third RBI in his last 13 games as the DH entered Sunday in an 8-for-51 slump.
It ultimately ran Marlins starter Taylor Rogers from the afternoon, but reliever and Glen Ridge, NJ native Declan Cronin shut the Mets down over 1.1 innings, striking out three and allowing just one hit in 1.1 innings of work.
The Mets got a break in the bottom of the sixth when it appeared that Chisholm beat out an inning-ending double play that would have plated a run with men on first and third. However, the originally signalled out call was upheld despite replays showing that the ball did not settle in Alonso’s glove at first by the time Chisholm’s foot hit the first-base bag.
Fortes and the Marlins’ comedy of errors continued to keep the door open for the Mets in the seventh, but the visitors failed to execute.
With two outs and Francisco Lindor on first, reliever AJ Puk balked to move him to second. Fortes then committed a third error in the game when his throw back to the mound eluded Puk’s glove and allowed Lindor to move to third.
Alonso sent a comebacker off Puk’s leg into the path of second baseman Xavier Edwards, who managed to reel in the slow roller and get the struggling New York slugger to save the run from scoring.
Jake Burger ultimately gave the Marlins a two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh when he lifted a two-run home run over the left-center field fence off Houser to make it 4-2.
