The Mets started the second half of the season by falling behind against an NL East rival before coming back to put the tying and lead runs on base in the top of the eighth.
In the end, the comeback fell short. The Mets fell to the Miami Marlins 6-4 on Friday night at Marlins Park.
Jeff McNeil hit two home runs and legged out an infield hit in the eighth. The Mets had runners on second and third with only one out, but Harrison Bader hit into a 6-2 fielder’s choice against right-hander Calvin Faucher and the Marlins got the runner at the plate.
Miami then brought in closer Tanner Scott for a four-out save.
Scott got the job done, retiring Francisco Lindor to end the threat. The Marlins scored again in the top of the ninth before Scott retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the inning for the save (15).
Left-hander Sean Manaea went 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA in his last four starts before the All-Star break but struggled through five innings in his 19th start of the season. His pitch count started to swell around the second and third innings when he gave up the first four runs.
“He didn’t have his best swing-and-miss stuff,” manager Carlos Mendoza told the media.
The trouble started with a one-out double to Otto Lopez in the bottom of the second. Manaea then gave up back-to-back singles, with Xavier Edwards driving in Lopez with a single to right field and Jesus Sanchez reaching third. He scored on a fly ball to put the Fish up 2-0.
Manaea labored through the third. Jazz Chisholm hit a leadoff line drive to center field and swiped second. McNeil made a tough catch in right on a fly ball by Bryan De La Cruz for the first out, but a double and a single by Jake Burger and Josh Bell drove in two more.
Manaea recovered to pitch two more innings, giving up a home run to Burger in the fifth. The bullpen is rested after the All-Star Break, but the Mets let Manaea work his way through the fifth. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out one in the loss (6-4).
McNeil cut the Miami lead to 3-1 with a leadoff home run off Edward Cabrera, with McNeil’s ball barely clearing the center field fence.
Down 4-2 after Lindor scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth, the Mets closed the gap in the sixth. McNeil’s second homer of the game — a two-run shot off left-hander Andrew Nardi — cut the Marlins’ lead to one run, 5-4.
“For him to go dead center, left-on-left, that’s a good sign,” Mendoza said.
Right-hander Edward Cabrera limited the Mets to two runs (one earned) on five hits and five walks. He struck out one over 4 2/3 innings. Right-hander Anthony Bender earned the win in relief (4-2).
NOTES
The Mets pushed left-hander Jose Quintana‘s start to Tuesday. The veteran was lined up to pitch this weekend in Miami, but he came down with a fever Friday and the Mets decided to shuffle the rotation. Luis Severino will pitch Saturday, with Christian Scott and David Peterson closing the series against the Marlins.
Right-handed ace Kodai Senga will throw 80-85 pitches in a rehab outing for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday. The Mets could have activated him for the Marlins series, but decided to have him make one more rehab start to build up his pitch count. Senga is eying a return to action next weekend at home against the Atlanta Braves.
Outfielder Starling Marte (knee) has started doing “low impact” baseball activities.
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