NEW YORK _ Giancarlo Stanton homered again and Adam Conley struck out a career-high 11 batters in the Miami Marlins' 6-4 win over the New York Mets, but the man who changed the game Sunday was Dee Gordon. And the skill that changed the game was his speed.
Gordon was in the middle of all of the Marlins' rallies, his fleet feet setting the table for Stanton and Christian Yelich behind him. He finished 2 for 5 with two stolen bases and three runs to boost Miami to its third series win in a row.
In the first and third innings, Gordon stole second and later scored when Yelich singled off the glove of third baseman Wilmer Flores, putting Miami ahead both times.
In the seventh, with the Marlins ahead by just one run, he sent a routine grounder to shortstop. The Mets' Amed Rosario, a 21-year-old playing in his 19th major league game, hesitated in throwing to first, allowing Gordon to beat it out for a single. On the next pitch, Stanton turned on Jacob deGrom's fastball inside for his 45th home run of the season, this one a three-run shot.
That was plenty for the left-handed Conley, who turned in arguably his best start of the year.
Conley had a lot of strikeouts and a little of everything else. He allowed one run on three hits, walking two batters and hitting another. He also threw a wild pitch, singled and struck out the side on 10 pitches in the sixth inning.
Conley matched deGrom, the Mets' ace, inning for inning. Neither was particularly efficient early on _ they averaged about 20 pitches per innings through three _ but both settled in. The difference was the seventh. DeGrom allowed Stanton's long ball, while Conley worked around a single in a nine-pitch inning.
The Mets made it close with three runs off of right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne (two scoring after righty Kyle Barraclough entered) in the eighth. But Brad Ziegler ended it by collecting his sixth save in six chances since being named closer late last month.
