Overturned defensive play shifts momentum as Miami Marlins drop series-opener to Mets
At first blush, the Miami Marlins had a double play in the sixth inning, a play that could have helped them escape a rare jam with Sandy Alcantara on the mound.
Instead, it was the turning point of their series opener with the New York Mets.
Both runners ended up being safe to load the bases before the Mets’ Francisco Lindor drove all three home with a double to the wall in right-center field as the Marlins lost 5-3 on Friday at loanDepot park. The Marlins fall to 32-37, while the Mets improve to 46-26.
So... what happened?
With the game tied 2-2, Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo led off the sixth inning with consecutive infield singles against Sandy Alcantara. They were just the third and fourth hits Alcantara had allowed, with the others being solo home runs to Lindor in the first and Mark Canha in the fifth.
Starling Marte then hit a ground ball to Willians Astudillo, who had replaced Jazz Chisholm Jr. to start the inning.
(Chisholm was removed from the game due to back spasms that Marlins manager Don Mattingly said he has been dealing “for a little bit” and felt it tighten up worse than usual during his second at-bat.)
Astudillo went to apply a tag on Brandon Nimmo, who had slid midway from first to second, before throwing to Jesus Aguilar at first base for an out to Marte. Aguilar then threw to shortstop Jon Berti to tagged Nimmo to ensure that out was recorded because Astudillo had the ball in his bare hand when he went for the initial tag with his glove.
“I knew I didn’t touch him with the ball,” Astudillo said, “so that’s why I gave the signal to Agui so we can actually execute the out.”
The umpires initially ruled both Nimmo and Marte out before the Mets challenged both calls.
Marte was safe at first, clearly getting to the base before the throw.
But the umpires also overturned the out on Nimmo, which resulted in the bases being loaded with no outs. The explanation: Because the umpire initially ruled Nimmo out on the initial tag, the play involving Nimmo is considered dead, so the second throw to tag him out after the throw to first was irrelevant.
“Just umpire error,” said Mattingly, although the error officially is charged to Astudillo. “Once that happens with replay, it kills it and they place the runners. Once they messed up that call, I guess they’re saying the play’s dead and they place the runner.”
Five pitches later, Lindor sent a middle-middle slider to right-center field to score all three runners and give the Mets the lead for good.
“I’m just trying to make my best pitch. Lindor got me tonight,” Alcantara said. “He was aggressive.”
It’s the second time in five games against the Mets that an overturned call shifted the momentum against the Marlins. In their first game against the Mets this season on June 17, the Marlins had a triple play overturned in the sixth inning of their eventual 10-4 loss at Citi Field. The Mets ended up scoring six runs that inning.
Miami had a prime chance in the seventh inning to make up for the sixth-inning defensive woes.
The Marlins had the bases loaded with no outs after Jacob Stallings hit a leadoff single against Taijuan Walker and Luke Williams and Jon Berti drew back-to-back walks against Drew Smith, putting the go-ahead run at the plate. Astudillo and Jorge Soler both struck out swinging before Garrett Cooper drew a bases-loaded walk to get one run back and force another Mets pitching change. Adam Ottavino then got Jesus Aguilar to hit a fly ball to center field to end the inning.
“That one hurt us a little bit,” Mattingly said. “We kind of answered all day. They get one, we get one. They get one, we get one. They get three [in the sixth]. We get none that inning, but we get the bases loaded there [in the seventh] and to only get one, it hurt momentum.”
The Marlins scored their other two runs on a Cooper RBI single in the first that scored Chisholm and a Soler RBI groundout in the fifth that scored Berti.
As for Alcantara, he finished the game allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits over seven innings. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.
This is his ninth consecutive game in which he has pitched at least seven innings — the longest such streak in MLB with all outings taking place in the same season since Rick Porcello had 11 consecutive outings of at least seven innings in 2016 with the Boston Red Sox — and the first in this stretch that he allowed more than two earned runs.
Even with the stat line on Friday — it was just the first time since his start against the San Diego Padres on May 6 that he did not record a quality start — Alcantara’s 1.95 ERA leads the National League and is third-best in MLB. His 106 1/3 innings pitched are also by far the most of any pitcher.
In the clubhouse after the game, Alcantara wore a shirt with the phrase “C’est la vie” on the front.
“Such is life.”
“I was able to compete today,” Alcantara said, “but they got me.”
▪ Berti’s streak of consecutive stolen bases without being caught ended when he was caught stealing in the ninth inning Friday. He had stolen a Marlins franchise-record 21 consecutive bases in a row to that point.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 9:46 PM.
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