QUEENS — In no way is the Mets’ inability to convert with runners on base fixed, but they managed to take advantage of poor Miami Marlins pitching to pull out a 9-3 home-opener win on just six hits on Friday afternoon at Citi Field.
Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso went back-to-back in the eighth inning while Starling Marte added his first home run in the sixth to provide fireworks for an offense that predicated most of its success on erratic Marlins pitching, which allowed 12 walks.
And they managed to do so despite leaving nine men on base — including eight in the first four innings.
“Nobody was trying to be the hero,” Lindor said of the Mets’ patient approach at the plate. “Brandon Nimmo [who walked four times] set the tone… We were taking pitches that were out of the strike zone… We were ready to hit, but, we were trying to get our pitch.”
It was more than enough support for starting pitcher Tylor Megill, who went six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits with three strikeouts to help snap a three-game losing skid that came in a sweep in Milwaukee against the Brewers.
“He was key,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Megill. “He got a lot of counts in his favor, First time [this year] that he went six innings.”
The right-hander continues to be nearly untouchable in April, improving his career numbers in the month to 6-0 with a 1.85 ERA.
“I just threw fastballs for strikes,” Megill, who threw just one curveball all afternoon, said. “Last outing I definitely didn’t have the fastball command… Today, I was able to get ahead early and induce contact so that was the plan today.”
He did so despite getting drilled in the right ankle by a Jean Segura line drive in the third inning, leaving him on the field just in front of the pitcher’s mound for a few moments.
“[The ankle] feels fine,” Megill said. “I think it hit me in the best spot possible.”
Megill and New York’s margin of victory, however, momentarily shrunk when reliever Dennis Santana walked a pair in a 6-0 game and allowed a three-run home run to Garrett Cooper to halve the lead.
The Mets (4-4) didn’t record a hit against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera — in fact, out of the 11 batters that faced him, only one put the ball in play — yet they drove him from the game after just 2.2 innings.
Mets batters drew seven walks off Cabrera, including four in the third inning that forced in a run when Mark Canha drew the free pass with two outs in the frame — this after Alonso and Jeff McNeil went down looking on strikes — to run the Miami starter from the game.
Daniel Vogelbach followed with their first hit of the afternoon, a grounder to second that pulled the first baseman, Cooper, away from the bag in an attempt to play it. It would have been a routine out if reliever Huascar Brazoban covered the bag like he was supposed to.
Instead, he watched the play and second baseman Luis Arraez had no one to throw to as Lindor crossed the plate.
Alonso finally came through with a Mets hit with runners on in the fourth inning when he delivered a two-out single to left that scored Tomas Nido to build a 3-0 lead. However, it didn’t do much to heal the Mets’ offensive woes with runners on. Over the first four innings, they stranded eight men on the paths.
They didn’t need to figure out their continuing conundrum in the sixth to add on as Starling Marte deposited a hanging Matt Barnes knuckle curve into the left-field seats for his first home run of the year — a solo shot.
History repeated itself in the seventh when the Mets loaded the bases without putting a ball in play against reliever Tanner Scott (two walks and a Canha hit-by-pitch). Eduardo Escobar, whose struggles continued with an 0-for-3 on Friday drove in a run on a fielder’s choice before Nido’s sacrifice fly brought in Canha.
Following Cooper’s home run to make it a 6-3 game, Lindor followed up Brandon Nimmo’s fourth walk of the day with a towering home run left field — his first of the year — before Alonso followed it up with a wall-scraper that eluded the glove of center fielder Jazz Chisholm on its way out of the yard.
“We did a lot of things well today,” Showalter said. “There’s a quiet confidence with our guys. They understand there’s a lot of factors that they can’t control and they’re going to keep their nose to the tracks and be ready for whatever’s coming their way.”
