Marlins ground into five double plays, commit three errors in 8-1 loss to Mets

The Marlins were one big eyesore on Saturday.

They made three errors in a single inning, grounded into a team-record five double plays, and lost 8-1 to the hapless Mets at Citi Field.

As overall performances go, it ranked as one of the worst of the season for the Marlins, who were trying to pull within a game of .500 but instead took a huge step back.

“I’d say one of them,” replied manager Don Mattingly when asked if it was one of the poorest games of the season. “We’ve had a few. But definitely (that was) unexpected.”

Most of the heavy damage was done in one awful inning: the sixth.

To that point, starters Vance Worley of the Marlins and Rafael Montero of the Mets had dueled through five scoreless innings before Marcell Ozuna broke the deadlock with a two-out single in the sixth.

But the lead was short-lived for the Marlins.

Trailing 1-0, the Mets came up with seven runs in the sixth off Worley and rookie reliever Drew Steckenrider. Not that they were entirely to blame.

Shortstop Miguel Rojas was charged with two errors while third baseman Derek Dietrich added one misplay of his own in the sixth-inning meltdown. It was the first time since 2012 the Marlins made three errors in an inning.

Rojas was shielded slightly by Mets base runner Yoenis Cespedes on the first of the two errors. Rojas never got his glove on the ball, and two runs scored.

“It’s not an excuse,” Rojas said of Cespedes shielding him. “I should have put a glove on the ball.”

What would have been the second out of the inning instead started an avalanche. Steckenrider gave up the first of his two home runs. Then, after Rojas committed his second error of the inning, Steckenrider gave up yet another homer.

Steckenrider, who had been sensational this month, gave up as many hits in the sixth inning -- three -- as he had in his nine outings combined this month. The home runs were the first he allowed all season.

The story offensively wasn’t any better.

The Marlins matched a team record by grounding into five double plays, three of them off the bat of Tyler Moore. It was the fifth time in Marlins history they grounded into that many twin killings.

And Moore became the fourth Marlin to ground into three double plays in a single game, joining Martin Prado (2016), Kevin Millar (’02) and John Mabry (’01).

“I hit the ball on the ground three times and I’m not fast,” Moore said. “Vance was pitching a great game. We just couldn’t put runs on the board and I kept running us out of the innings, so it’s very frustrating.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Marlins ground into five double plays, commit three errors in 8-1 loss to Mets."