DeGrom lasted 32/3 innings in his shortest outing since August.
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He said he found the feel for his changeup in the win, but he’ll be challenged by a tougher Marlins lineup.
DeGrom didn’t blank Miami for long, however. The Mets are 8-3 in their last 11 road starts and 5-2 in his last seven road starts versus a team with a winning record.
“This guy is going to help us”, Collins said. “I thought his stuff was good”.
Giancarlo Stanton homered and had his first four-hit game since 2012, driving in three to give Jose Fernandez all the support he needed, and the Marlins beat the Mets 7-2 Saturday night.
Fernandez (12-4) gave up two early runs but went seven innings to match his career high for victories, achieved in his 2013 rookie season. He also had two hits, hiking his average to.265, and drove in the first run.
The Red Sox got a leadoff homer from Mookie Betts and a one-out single by Xander Bogaerts in the first, then went hitless until the bottom of the ninth against closer Brandon Kintzler. He is 5-4 with a 4.99 ERA, and despite pitching in spacious Marlins Park, he has allowed 20 home runs in 19 starts.
The longest hit was by Home Run Derby victor Stanton, who put Miami ahead to stay in the third inning when he pulled a two-run homer off the left-field scoreboard above the 401-foot sign. 241 after a prolonged slump.
Upset with himself, deGrom wasn’t in the mood for a question about Stanton.
“I saw him hit a ball pretty far over the wall”, deGrom said.
“This was crunch time for us”, manager Terry Collins said.
DeGrom was throwing only in the low 90s in his final inning, several notches below his norm.
“He had a lot of swings and misses on his fastball”, Collins said. “Those were stressful innings from the start to when he came out of the game, but no I’m not concerned”.
Miami Marlins’ Martin Prado, left, slides safely into third base as New York Mets third baseman Jose Reyes (7) applies the late tag in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Miami, Sunday, July 24, 2016. Just like in the first inning, he scored when Cespedes lofted a sacrifice fly to center, and the Mets had a 3-2 advantage.
But that was all they managed against Fernandez.
Verrett took a shutout into the sixth but departed after giving up a two-run homer to Christian Yelich, his 10th.
Lately, deGrom has been even better – 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA in his past four starts. But with runners on the corners and two outs, Familia got Adeiny Hechavarria on a grounder to shortstop to earn his 34th save of the season. Marlins 2B Dee Gordon, who is due back from an 80-game performance-enhancing-drugs suspension on Thursday, is hitting. Jeurys Familia followed in the ninth and retired the side in order to pick up his 35th save of the season and secure a big series win for the Mets.
MIAMI (AP) – Closing in on 3,000 hits, Ichiro Suzuki isn’t inclined to stop there.
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Remember, the Mets were subdued in the NL East race immediately before the All-Star break because the Nationals won three of four games at Citi Field to expand their comfortable lead in the division. In his first major league start at the position, Conforto handled his work without incident, highlighted by the diving catch he made on the Marlins’ first batter of the game, Miguel Rojas. Matz is 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA in three career starts against Miami.
