Colon earned the win in his most recent start last Friday, when he gave up four runs over seven innings and added two hits and two runs scored in the Mets’ 9-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
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RED SOX 9, RAYS 4 Rick Porcello (18-3) became the first 18-game victor in the major leagues this season and the first Red Sox pitcher in 70 years to open a season 13-0 in Fenway Park, going seven innings in host Boston’s victory over Tampa Bay.
The bad news for the Marlins on Monday was that they only scored one run in the inning – and the game.
For a fleeting moment, it looked as though manager Don Mattingly had found the solution to the Marlins’ scoring starvation with a few tweaks to the lineup, sticking Christian Yelich in the cleanup spot.
Asdrubal Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in a win over the Marlins on Tuesday.
The surge – which has vaulted the Mets (68-64) past the Marlins (67-65) in the National League East and drawn NY within 2 1/2 games of the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the second NL wild card spot – has been fueled by the return of Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes, all of whom were on the disabled list earlier this month.
On Monday in game one of this series, the Mets secured a 10-inning walk-off victory 2-1.
The right-hander has lost two straight after going 3-0 in his previous six starts.
With the Marlins down a run, Koehler retired the first two batters in the fifth before bouncing a ball in the dirt on a swinging strike three pitch to Alejandro de Aza.
Josh Smoker (1-0) earned his first major league win with a flawless 10th inning.
Cespedes, who sat out Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia to nurse his nagging right quadriceps, launched a no-doubt drive to left-center on a 1-1 pitch from Nick Wittgren (4-3).
Cespedes tossed his bat high in the air and then chucked away his helmet as he neared home plate.
The American League-leading Rangers won the first of six straight games at home against the two teams chasing them in the AL West and dropped the Mariners into third place, a game behind Houston and 91/2 back of Texas. It was the second hit of the night for the 42-year-old Suzuki, who increased his career total to 3,011 and passed Hall of Famer Wade Boggs for 27th place in major league history. Kelly Johnson is at third base, with Jose Reyes sliding over to Cabrera’s spot at shortstop.
With the count 0-2 on Cespedes, Ramos threw a high fastball that glanced off the mitt of catcher J.T. Realmuto and went to the screen behind home.
Reyes rolled around in discomfort for several seconds, dyed-orange hair visible to all after his helmet popped off. That left NY without a healthy backup infielder, because Walker and Cabrera were the only two on the bench. Nicolino, who started Sunday and threw 101 pitches in a 3-1 loss to San Diego, was optioned to the Zephyrs.
Collins indicated the team hopes Walker can play Wednesday – but also said “if” the switch-hitter returns to the lineup, he will need to monitor and manage his back regularly and won’t play five or six days in a row. Marlins LHP Adam Conley (finger), who has been on the disabled list since August 14, was cleared by doctors to begin throwing. Matz says he believes he will return to the mound this season.
Wilmer Flores started at second base in place of Walker, sidelined for the second consecutive day by a stiff back.
With just 30 games remaining in the season, and the Mets needing to make up ground to make the playoffs, Asdrubal Cabrera can not afford to take time to heal his left knee.
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“I knew he had a good arm”, Collins said. And instead of facing the bottom of the order in the next inning, the first man up was pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson, who belted a Koehler pitch into the seats to make it 4-2.
