Marlins fall to Mets, but ‘the game within the game’ belonged to a rookie lefty

The Mets won Tuesday night’s series finale in an extra-inning thriller, 6–5 over the Marlins.

However, the full story of how they got there was less about the final score and more about what led to it: the matchups, the momentum swings, and the decisions layered beneath each inning.

Pete Alonso’s game-tying three-run home run in the eighth inning was the signature moment — a blast over the center field wall that sent the Mets’ dugout into a frenzy and temporarily turned loanDepot park into Citi Field South.

It was a massive swing, a moment of power and poise. And still, in a game that twisted and turned over 11 innings, Alonso’s blast was only part of the story.

Long before that at-bat, the Marlins (4-3) had been planning around it.

In the sixth inning, left-hander Anthony Veneziano entered with a clear assignment: retire Juan Soto, Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo — three of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, each presenting a different challenge.

Soto grounded out. Alonso lined out to center. Nimmo struck out swinging.

It was a surgical sequence, and one the Marlins had mapped out well in advance. Veneziano, the only lefty in Miami’s bullpen, had been mentally preparing for that exact moment.

“I knew that was gonna be my pocket,” Veneziano said before the game. “You see a guy like Soto coming up and you know what he can do, what Pete can do, what Nimmo can do. I’ve got to go in there and execute.”

He did execute, with help from second baseman Xavier Edwards, whose full-extension sliding stop robbed Soto of a hit to open the inning. Veneziano turned and pointed to him in appreciation. From there, he executed his plan pitch-for-pitch.

That plan, according to manager Clayton McCullough, was no accident.

“You look at some other teams in our division, they’ve got high-quality left-hand hitters, sandwiched with right-handers… and we feel like Anthony’s got the stuff to get out both sides,” McCullough said. “It was a similar set of circumstances [to Monday], and we feel extremely confident in his ability to navigate that pocket.”

Soto said it’s a dynamic he’s used to.

“That’s what you live for,” he said. “That’s why you’ve been working your whole life, trying to be one of the best in the game. I have to prepare because everybody’s bringing their hundred percent against me every time. So I gotta be ready to give my hundred percent every day, too.”

Even Nimmo acknowledged the stakes of those kinds of showdowns.

“When people are in the bullpen specifically to get you out, it’s a good feeling — you feel like you’ve earned some respect,” Nimmo said. “But in big situations, they’re probably going to be the ones you face.”

He added that while lefty-on-lefty matchups remain part of the game’s DNA, hitters today must adapt.

“Guys are getting so good at manipulating the ball now with the slow-motion cameras and everything… you have to be adaptable,” he said. “It’s not just lefties, but it’s still old reliable, right? Left-on-left, right-on-right.”

Veneziano was the only lefty Alonso faced all night and the only pitcher who got him out.

In the eighth, Alonso returned with the game on the line. Two on, two outs. Calvin Faucher on the mound. Alonso fouled off pitch after pitch, pushing the count full. On the ninth pitch, he unloaded on a fastball and tied the game at four.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s got good stuff,” Alonso said about Veneziano. “For me, I just think that if the pitcher’s got good stuff, they’ve got good stuff, right or left. I mean, that’s kind of how I think about it.”

The game continued into extras, where the Mets (3-3) took the lead for good in the 11th on a bases-loaded walk by Jesse Winker and a fielding error by Edwards that allowed Alonso to score.

Edwards had brought Miami within one in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single, but Otto Lopez struck out and Eric Wagaman popped out to end the game.

“We scout everybody,” Veneziano said. “But specifically for me, it’s usually three to four to five guys I’m really looking at, to know what I’m gonna do when I get in there.”

McCullough emphasized that left-handed specialists like Veneziano are just one part of a more versatile bullpen strategy.

“We have some righties as well, Bachar and Enriquez and we’ve seen Phillips that also have the ability, conversely, to do that as well,” he said. “Where they can, right-left-right, and have the stuff to get out both sides and suppress damage versus lefties.”

The Mets’ manager Carlos Mendoza echoed that sentiment pregame.

“I think the game will dictate,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got some righties that can get lefties out, and lefties that can handle both sides. You need options.”

Tuesday’s game was filled with them — and filled with moments that flipped on execution, error, or one swing. But for all the chaos and crowd noise, it was still shaped by one silent thread: matchups.

“It’s a battle that we’re going back and forth all the time,” Soto said. “Sometimes they’re gonna win it. Sometimes I’m gonna win it.”

Sometimes, everyone’s plan works out, until Alonso steps up to the plate.

This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 10:21 PM.