The Mets completed their sweep over the Marlins on Wednesday night, defeating Miami by the score of 8-6 at Marlins Park. Here are my takeaways from the win…
Uncomfortably close.
This was a dominant game for eight innings, and then the Mets bullpen decided to play games. New Met Eric O’Flaherty was terrible, and Hansel Robles came in and allowed a walk and a three-run double with two outs, cutting the lead to 8-5 and forcing Terry Collins to go to Jeurys Familia in what was once an eight-run game.
Familia allowed a run, making it an 8-6 game and allowed the winning run to come to the plate, but he eventually got out of the jam. This game ended more in a sigh of relief than in jubilation. Let’s not do this again.
An offensive showcase.
Man, the Mets really took care of business these last three days in South Beach. Coming off the high of their weekend sweep against the Nationals, this team could’ve easily had a let down series here, especially against this Miami team and in this stadium as we’ve seen many times before. But that’s not what happened here.
Once again on Wednesday night, the Mets blitzkrieged this downtrodden Miami squad, putting up a four-run inning in the 3rd–the fourth straight game they’ve had a four-run inning–which was all they would’ve needed with Matt Harvey on the mound. Still not satisfied with a 4-0 lead, though, Juan Uribe decided to put the game away in the 5th as he blasted a three-run home run, his 2nd since joining the team and giving the Mets a 7-0 lead.
Over these past three days in Miami, the Mets offense took care of business. They faced a team at the bottom of their division and just completely laid it on them. This is what first place teams do.
The Dark Knight Rises.
For whatever reason, Matt Harvey has never fared too well pitching in Miami, as coming into tonight he was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three career starts at Marlins Park. That was not the case on Wednesday, however, as after he shook off some rust in his first inning of work, he completely dominated this Marlins team all night long.
This is a team that’s 21 games under .500 and without their slugger Giancarlo Stanton, so much like the offense did tonight, Harvey did what he had to do. In seven innings tonight, the Dark Knight allowed just two hits, walked none, struck out six and retired the final 13 batters he faced on Wednesday night. He could have easily thrown a complete game shutout tonight, but with a 7-0 lead and an innings restriction, Terry Collins made the right call by taking him out after the 7th.
In his last nine starts, Harvey has a 1.82 ERA. Safe to say he’s back, folks.
Another Mets debut.
Left-handed specialist Eric O’Flaherty made his Mets debut on Wednesday night, allowing four hits–three to left-handers–and four earned runs in 0.2 innings pitched.
O’Flaherty became the sixth player to make their Mets debut in the team’s last 11 games, joining Michael Conforto, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard and Yoenis Cespedes. Shoutout to Sandy Alderson, who’s done far more than expected in the last two weeks to vastly improve this team.
Other notes from Wednesday:
Curtis Granderson has reached base safely in 21 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the National League.
After his three-run home run, Juan Uribe has now hit in all six games he’s played in since joining the Mets.
Ruben Tejada is batting .318 over his last 28 games.
Hansel Robles has allowed a grand slam and a three-run double the last two times he’s pitched with the bases loaded.
With the win, the Mets swept their first road series of the 2015 season.
The Mets are 41-6 when scoring four or more runs in a game, and have average 6.09 runs per game over their last 11 games.
Just Mets 