NEW YORK — The ball hit off Miguel Rojas’ bat looped in the air before dropping in shallow right field in front of Michael Conforto. Eddy Alvarez and Magneuris Sierra dashed around the basepaths, Sierra beating Conforto’s throw home, to give the Miami Marlins a late lead they would hold onto in a 3-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field on Wednesday.
And so ends Miami’s seven-game losing streak as the 2021 season trudges toward its conclusion. The Marlins (65-93) were on the verge of matching their season-long streak of eight consecutive losses, marks set from May 27 through June 5 and again from Aug. 16 to Aug. 24. The Marlins were outscored 39-14 over the seven-game stretch before Wednesday, scoring three runs or fewer in six of those games while giving up at least five runs in five of those games.
“It’s winding down,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “and you really just don’t want to see it shut down. I have no doubt the guys are playing hard. You just want to make sure that you’re continuing to to get ready to play. That’s all, and getting ready to play is not only stretching and getting your body ready but making sure your mind is ready to play. The game tells you how to play — the outs, the score, situation. It’s what we talk about. That tells you how to play the game, when to be aggressive, when to back off.”
After being shut down and held to one hit through the first seven innings on Wednesday, the Marlins finally struck in the eighth. Lewin Diaz led off the frame with a double to right-center and Eddy Alvarez drew a one-out walk to chase starter Taijuan Walker. Alex Jackson, who had Miami’s only hit of the game through seven innings, broke up the shutout with an RBI double to center field before being replaced by Sierra as a pinch-runner.
After a Nick Fortes strikeout, Rojas drove both runners in by depositing a first-pitch sinker from Seth Lugo into right field.
Prior to that inning, though, the Marlins dealt with more self-inflicted wounds — similar to what they had in both losses in Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., who reached base four times on a pair of walks, a single and a Mets error (and also stole his 23rd base of the season), was picked off at first base in the fourth inning. It was the MLB-leading 23rd time a Marlins player was picked off on the basepaths this season — the most by a single team over the course of a season since the Houston Astros were picked off 27 times in 2013.
Elieser Hernandez left an 89.8 mph fastball over the heart of the plate in a 3-0 count to Conforto, who blasted the pitch a projected 426 feet to right-center field.
Diaz made a diving grab on a Walker groundball down the first-base line but didn’t get the throw to Hernandez in time at first base. Instead of an inning-ending out, the infield single moved Dominic Smith to third base. Smith scored one batter later on a Brandon Nimmo double to left. Hernandez held the Mets (75-83) to two runs on six hits with six strikeouts over five innings.
Unlike the first two games of the series, though, the Marlins rallied late and came away with a win. Richard Bleier pitched a scoreless eighth and Dylan Floro earned his 13th save of the season with a scoreless ninth to seal the win.
“You’d like to see you guys finish strong and continue to play and live up to our responsibilities as professionals to make sure that we’re not only putting forward our best effort — which I feel totally comfortable that guys are playing hard and giving their effort physically,” Mattingly said. “You just want them to mentally be there to show that they understand situations of the game and how we should be playing and giving ourselves the best chance to win.”
The Marlins have four games left this season — a finale with the Mets on Thursday and a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at loanDepot park — to show whether they can finish strong.
DE LA CRUZ’S SLUMP
Rookie outfielder Bryan De La Cruz is in the midst of his first extended hitting slump since making his big-league debut on July 30.
After going 0 for 4 and hitting into two double plays on Wednesday, De La Cruz has a .148 batting average (4 for 27) with one triple, one RBI and one run scored over the last eight games. Three of those four hits came in one game.
De La Cruz was hitting .321 before this stretch.
“It’s inevitable,” Mattingly said. “I think you’re gonna see teams paying more attention as they see him in the two hole, three hole, like, ‘OK, this guy sitting there. He must be a pretty good hitter’ where they’re paying more attention.”
