Miami Marlins finally win against Jacob deGrom, head into September with .500 record
.JPG "Miami Marlins’ Lewin Diaz scores in front of New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) during the sixth inning of a baseball game on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)")
The fourth time was the charm for the Miami Marlins against Jacob deGrom.
The Marlins struggled for five innings against the New York Mets’ ace and two-time defending National League Cy Young Award winner before breaking through in the sixth, pegging him for four runs before tacking on against the bullpen in a 5-3 win Monday at Citi Field. The win improves Miami to 15-15 on the year and keeps the Marlins in second place in the National League East heading into the final month of the season.
The game Monday, which splits up a Marlins home stand, was a makeup for their contest that was originally scheduled for Thursday but postponed in protest by both teams following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Marlins had taken issue with having to make the day trip to New York, considering that it also took up one of their final two off days of the season, but pulled out the win.
“That was a sore spot, and that could have led to a lot of complaining,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “But it’s one of those things that we have to get past. We talked about it a little bit. We’re going. It’s the way it is. We’re playing. We’re going. We’re not going to hang our heads.”
But they had reason to hang their heads through the first five innings after it looked like the Marlins would have had more of the same struggles against deGrom, who according to the Elias Sports Bureau is the first pitcher to start four consecutive games against the same opponent since Freddie Fitzsimmons made four starts in 1929 for the New York Giants against the Cincinnati Reds. deGrom held Miami to three runs over 18 total innings in those games, all Mets wins.
He continued his run of domination during the first five innings on Monday, holding the Marlins scoreless and striking out eight while his offense built up a 2-0 lead.
But the Marlins finally struck in the sixth. It started with a 451-foot Garrett Cooper home run to left-center field. Rookie first baseman Lewin Diaz tied the game three batters later with an RBI double that scored Matt Joyce, who reached on a fielding error. Miguel Rojas hit an RBI single and Jorge Alfaro hit an RBI double in consecutive at-bats to give Miami the lead and an insurance run.
“Coop got us started,” Mattingly said, “and then we got rolling.”
Brian Anderson added a solo home run in the eighth against Mets reliever Brad Brach.
The rally was enough to support rookie starter Trevor Rogers and give him his first career MLB win in his second career MLB start. Rogers held the Mets to two runs over five innings, giving up five hits and two walks while striking out five.
Alex Vesia gave up a solo home run to Robinson Cano in the sixth to cut Miami’s lead in half, but Richard Bleier, Yimi Garcia and Brandon Kintzler shut down the Mets (15-20) for the final three innings. Kintzler earned his seventh save in as many opportunities.
Villar’s last contribution
The game could have potentially unfolded differently if not for one big play in the final moments of Jonathan Villar’s tenure as a Marlin.
Villar, who was traded mid-game to the Toronto Blue Jays, made a back-peddling, run-saving grab on a Wilson Ramos pop up to shallow right center to end the fifth inning.
As the Marlins started their rally in the sixth, Villar was pulled for pinch-hitter Jon Berti.
The 29-year-old switch-hitter entered Monday leading MLB with nine stolen bases while also sporting a .272 batting average with two home runs, four doubles, nine RBI, 10 walks and 10 runs scored.
Diaz’s defense
Speaking of solid defense, rookie first baseman Lewin Diaz made a pair of heads-up plays that kept the Marlins in the game.
The first came in the fourth, when the Mets had runners on first and third with one out. Amed Rosario grounded a ball to first base, which Diaz fired back home to get Cano out and stop a run from scoring. Rogers got Brandon Nimmo to ground out on the next at-bat to end the inning.
In the seventh, with Nimmo on first and no outs, Diaz fielded a Jeff McNeil ground ball, tapped his foot on the first-base bag and fired to Rojas covering second base for a double play.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 4:13 PM.
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