NEW YORK _ It's official: The Miami Marlins will finish 4-0 in starts against New York Mets ace and National League Cy Young Award contender Jacob deGrom.
Clutch hits by the Marlins in the fourth inning and another strong outing by pitcher Jose Urena proved to be enough for Miami to top the Mets 5-3 Tuesday at Citi Field.
deGrom went 0-2 with a pair of no-decisions and a 3.11 ERA in four starts against the Marlins this season. That includes a May 23 outing in which he pitched seven shutout innings before the bullpen blew a save in a 2-1 Marlins win at Citi Field. For comparison, deGrom has a 1.49 ERA in his other 25 starts this year and only gave up more than two runs in four of those outings.
deGrom still put on a dazzling performance Tuesday, striking out nine and giving up just three hits over seven innings.
But those three Miami hits all came with two outs in the fourth inning to give the Marlins (57-86) all the runs they needed. Rookie Brian Anderson started the push with an infield single that neither Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil nor shortstop Amed Rosario could properly field. Derek Dietrich struck next with a single to left field before rookie Lewis Brinson drove them both home with a double off the center-field wall.
Shortstop JT Riddle, who entered the game as a defensive substitution in the seventh, added another run in the eighth on a solo home run to right field. The Marlins added two more runs in the ninth on a Brian Anderson RBI triple that plated J.T. Realmuto and a Dietrich double one at-bat later.
Urena, meanwhile, earned his third win in his last four starts after scattering four hits and giving up one run _ a sixth-inning home run by Michael Conforto _ over 6 1/3 innings before handing it off to his bullpen. In fact, in those four starts since his Aug. 15 ejection for hitting the Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr., Urena has gone posted a 2.22 ERA over 28 1/3 innings with 18 strikeouts, eight walks and no hit batters.
The Mets (65-78) attempted to rally in the ninth with a two-out, two-run home run by Kevin Plawecki before Drew Steckenrider forced Amed Rosario to ground into a fielder's choice to end it.
