NEW YORK — Don Mattingly spent a good portion of his pregame interview session Thursday talking about momentum. The Miami Marlins have failed to generate much of it during the first six games of the season, during which they dropped two of three games to the Tampa Bay Rays and were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.
All it would take, Mattingly hoped, was one timely hit or one big moment for his team’s performance to turn around after a homestand to forget.
“Once that momentum turns,” Mattingly said, “guys just relax.”
They’ll have to wait at least a couple more days for their next chance to get momentum on their side.
Their sixth-inning rally on Thursday went to waste when closer Anthony Bass gave up a game-tying home run in the ninth to Jeff McNeil and the New York Mets beat the Marlins 3-2 with a Michael Conforto walk-off hit by pitch at Citi Field. The Marlins are now 1-6 on the season, tied for the worst mark in franchise history through seven games. The Mets are now 2-2.
After McNeil’s home run, the Mets loaded the bases on a Luis Guillorme pinch-hit single, Brandon Nimmo double and Fransisco Lindor intentional walk. Conforto was then hit on a 1-2 slider inside the strike zone. The Marlins were furious after the call. The umpires reviewed the play. It stood.
Miami was two outs away from snapping its three-game losing streak after finally stringing together multiple hits in the sixth.
Jon Berti, who entered the game as a defensive replace in the fifth inning as part of a double switch, led off the inning with a first-pitch single to right-center field. Five pitches later, Corey Dickerson roped a double to the right-field wall. Berti scored from first. Dickerson moved to third base on a Starling Marte groundout and scored on a Jesus Aguilar groundball single through the right side of the infield.
The small-ball approach paid off after Mets starting pitcher Taijuan Walker and and a pair of solid plays from the Mets defense stymied the Marlins early. Brandon Nimmo robbed Brian Anderson of an extra-base hit in the second when he caught a fly ball on the warning track in right-center field while stumbling to the ground. Shortstop Fransisco Lindor also snatched a Marte line drive to end the fourth. Walker held Miami hitless until Brian Anderson flared a single to right with one out in the fifth and kept them off the scoreboard until the sixth-inning rally.
In the moment, it backed up Nick Neidert’s steady performance in his first career MLB start. Neidert, a 24-year-old righty ranked as the No. 12 prospect in the Marlins’ organization by MLB Pipeline, held the Mets to just three hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out three while giving up one earned run when Lindor scored on a Dominic Smith sacrifice fly in the fifth. Of his 85 pitches, 50 were strikes.
Ross Detwiler (1 2/3 innings), Richard Bleier (one inning), Yimi Garcia (one inning) and kept the lead intact before Bass gave up the solo home run to McNeil to lead off the ninth.
