New York Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores, from left, celebrate after the Mets defeated the Miami Marlins 7-4 in a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in New York.
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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.
Looking to spark a scuffling offence, Marlins manager Don Mattingly shuffled his 2-3-4 hitters. But the righty bounced back, surrendering two hits and no runs after the initial frame. “We get two runs on the board”. Christian Yelich hit a two-run home run in the first inning. Jeff Francoeur tripled with two outs and scored on Dee Gordon’s single before Jeurys Familia struck out Marcell Ozuna for his major league-leading 43rd save in 46 chances.
New York-As the calendar gets closer to September, the New York Mets have begun to turn it on.
RHP Seth Lugo will look to continue his surprisingly effective work as a starting pitcher Tuesday night, when he takes the mound for the Mets in the second game of a four-game series against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field. Both teams began the day 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the league’s second wild card. The Marlins have lost four straight and six of their last eight.
“We can’t try to fix it overnight”. Walker has sat out nine of the Mets’ last 13 games – six due to his back injury and three following the birth of his daughter last week. “It’s something we’ll talk about”. He finished having allowed five hits with one walk and four strikeouts in an 89-pitch effort and retired the final eight batters he faced. The Mets made it 5-2 later in the frame on Alejandro De Aza’s bases-loaded single, although a hobbled Cabrera easily was tagged out after attempting to stop while rounding third despite a send by third-base coach Tim Teufel. Rivera was recalled from Las Vegas on Saturday and went 0-for-3 in two games.
“They came out very aggressive today”, Koehler said. “A lot of first-pitch base hits. Never really allowed me to get into a rhythm”, he said.
The Mets hit three homers Monday as they beat the Marlins, 7-4, for their second straight win and their eighth victory in the last 10 games overall dating back to August 20.
Yelich smacked a two-run home run in the first inning.
De Aza added an RBI single later in the inning off Dustin McGowan. 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.
Reyes singled leading off the first and Cabrera went deep on the next pitch. Cabrera is batting.270 with 16 homers and 42 RBIs in 110 games this season.
Seven of Familia’s saves this year have come against Miami – most for any major league reliever versus one team. The infielder said he does not think about his knee while he’s in the field, but knows that he cannot take unnecessary risks and can’t extend himself too much. RHP Andrew Cashner (finger blister) played long toss and is scheduled to throw a bullpen Wednesday.
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“Obviously encouraging for him to square that up out there over the plate”, Mattingly said of Yelich’s homer. RHP A.J. Ramos was OK after crashing into Reyes on a play at the plate Monday night, Mattingly said. New York LHP Steven Matz (left shoulder stiffness) did not feel good while playing catch Monday and will not come off the disabled list on Thursday as the team hoped.
