| Advertisement |
NEW YORK -- As the unquestioned alpha male of the New York Mets, Matt Harvey demands attention even when he gives the appearance of shirking from it. But the right-hander was able to walk unbothered behind reporters surrounding closer Jeurys Familia to his locker Monday night, when the former ace's struggles were rendered an afterthought following impressive relief work by the Mets' bullpen and another outburst by a suddenly red-hot lineup.
Advertisement
Five Mets relievers combined for 5 1/3 innings of shutout relief Monday, when Yoenis Cespedes' two-run double capped a comeback from a six-run deficit and lifted New York to an 8-6 win over the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.
"'Yo' did what he's supposed to do in big situations, he came through with a great hit," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Guys took base on balls, we moved the ball around today, just pecked our way back into the game."
Harvey exited after 3 2/3 innings, but the Mets scored in each of their final five trips to the plate against Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler and a trio of relievers. Beginning with Travis d'Arnaud's two-out homer in the fourth, 13 of the final 24 Mets batter reached base via two homers, five singles, two doubles and four walks.
Erik Goeddel, Logan Verrett and Hansel Robles (1 2/3 innings) followed Harvey before Jerry Blevins (3-0) earned the win after striking out Christian Yelich to strand a runner at third in the eighth.
Familia notched his 29th save and wriggled out of a first-and-third jam by inducing Chris Johnson to hit into a game-ending double play.
Johnson, Adeiny Hechavarria and Koehler had RBI hits in the second before a throwing error by Harvey helped chase him in the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Harvey threw a potential double play ball past d'Arnaud, which allowed Johnson to score. Yelich followed with a two-run single.
Harvey was charged with five earned runs on 11 hits and no walks while striking out four. He has a 5.59 ERA over his last four starts and is 4-10 overall with a 4.86 ERA.
"It's a tough part of baseball -- you go through your ups and downs," Harvey said. "Unfortunately this year, there have been more downs than there are ups."
The Mets (45-37), who won their fifth straight, have scored in 20 of their last 35 innings dating back to the Thursday's sixth frame against the Chicago Cubs. They had scored just six times in the preceding 52 innings.
"I think other teams can sense that we're getting ourselves in pretty good hitter's counts up and down the lineup," said second baseman Neil Walker, who was the only Mets starter without a hit but drew three walks, including one immediately before Cespedes' go-ahead double.
Curtis Granderson homered in the fifth before the Mets scored twice apiece in the sixth, seventh and eighth. D'Arnaud had an RBI single and Kelly Johnson hit into a run-scoring double play in the sixth while James Loney (groundout) and Wilmer Flores (sacrifice fly) delivered RBIs in the seventh.
D'Arnaud led off the eighth with a single and went to second on a sacrifice by pinch-hitter Juan Lagares. With two outs, Walker drew a walk on a 3-2 count and Cespedes launched a 2-2 pitch by Rodney (0-2) deep into the left-centerfield gap.
The three Marlins relievers entered Monday with a combined ERA of 1.93 over 107 1/3 innings.
"They really get to our back end and that's been our strength," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "So you have to give them credit."
The outburst against the Marlins' top relievers came immediately after the Mets battered the Cubs' four best starting pitchers -- John Lackey, Jason Hammel, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester -- for 24 runs over 17 innings in a four-game sweep. The Cubs quartet entered the weekend with a 2.48 ERA.
"We're pretty confident right now," Walker said. "When you have confidence (in) everybody up and down the lineup and you're hitting balls hard and you're getting some traffic out there, good things end up happening."
J.T. Realmuto had four hits for the Marlins (43-40) while Johnson finished with three hits.
"You're up 6-0, you feel like you should win," Mattingly said. "For us it needs to be a lesson learned. We've got to keep playing."
Koehler permitted two runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out none over five innings.
NOTES: The Mets announced after the game that INF Jose Reyes, who was signed to a minor league contract June 25, will be activated Tuesday. Reyes played in his ninth minor league game Monday. ... The Mets played at home for the 33rd time on Independence Day while the Marlins went on the road for the 15th time. ... The Marlins arrived in New York around 2:30 a.m. ET Monday following their Sunday night game against the Atlanta Braves at the U.S. Army base in Fort Bragg, N.C. ... Marlins 1B Justin Bour (sprained right ankle) did not play and is day-to-day.
