Of that quintet, only left-hander A.J. Ramos has returned to the active roster.
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Needless to say, the month of August has not been kind to the Marlins.
The Mets have won nine of their last 11 games and moved within 1.5 games of the Cardinals for the second N.L. Wild Card spot. “We’re just not doing enough to win”.
Tonight’s game continued the trend of disappointment.
Kelly Johnson, who started at second base Wednesday and delivered the tie-breaking, three-run double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, said Mets players were not shocked to learn the Walker news. Jeurys Familia then locked down a ideal ninth for his 44th save of the season.
In the middle of the craziest day in his half-decade as a professional, after the cross-country flight but before his major league debut, Jake Esch sat at his locker and tried on his hat.
The scheduled starter for Miami was the more-fearsome David Phelps, but the ex-Yankee was placed on the disabled list with an oblique strain this afternoon. Nothing friendlier than three outs on two consecutive pitches in your major league debut.
So imagine what the conversation was in the Mets’ dugout when Esch, not a notoriously hard thrower, struck out Asdrubal Cabrera and Cespedes to end the first inning. After a pair of strikeouts in the first inning, Esch allowed four consecutive baserunners in the second, including Flores’ 15th home run. Curtis Granderson walked. Flores flew out to center, advancing a hustling Cespedes to third. He likely threw without much notice and pitched great with runners on to keep the Marlins in the game.
The best path for him to increase his floor as a back end rotation arm would be further seasoning at the AA or AAA level to work on the development of his off speed pitches.
“I threw a slider that I was trying to make it around the zone and he took advantage of it”, he said. The 26-year-old righty was a combined 12-10 with a 4.31 ERA at Triple-A and Double-A.
Nobody can replace Bartolo Colon in his manager’s admiration.
Up next Marlins: RHP Jose Urena (2-5, 5.83 ERA) opposes deGrom. Nothing has really changed for Bartolo repertoire-wise either. He allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out two. A likely reason Colon got through seven innings as well was him being left on the on-deck circle in the bottom of the sixth. Giancarlo Stanton has been out since August 14 with a left groin strain and Justin Bour hasn’t played since July 2 because of a right ankle sprain. “Today I was excited to get up here and join a pennant race”, Esch said. Bartolo Colon made that lead stand up until the sixth inning, when Christian Yelich blasted an opposite field solo homer (17) to tie the game at two.
The Marlins have endured their fair share of injury problems as of late, though the club remains in the thick of the National League wild card race nonetheless. J.T. Realmuto would add his 27th double of the season which was Miami’s only other extra- base hits.
Granderson was engaged in an eight-pitch duel with Dunn when he hit a long fly to center that appeared to have a chance to be his third homer in two games. Esch will toe the rubber for the Marlins instead in what will serve as a pivotal game against the Mets. At the moment it looks like he has sprained that wrist, and will likely miss the next few games as wrist injuries tend to linger for hitter – see Myers, Wil.
That fracture will be a pain-managment issue the rest of the reason, Ramos said then.
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Yoenis Cespedes, Bruce, Johnson and d’Arnaud had two hits apiece.
