Fish fry Mets' good vibes

Marlins 7, Mets 4 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 72-62

Mets Streak: L1

Mets Last 10: 6-4

WP: Cade Gibson (3-5) LP: Gregory Soto (1-5)

Seat On The Korner: Liam Hicks

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Well, Ralph had to talk to somebody. And, since the Mets' gloves don't speak, we might as well go with the Marlins' Liam Hicks for the invite to the postgame show. While the Mets' defense was the key to the Marlins' offense, as only two of the winners' seven runs were earned, Hicks was in the middle of every Miami rally that wiped away much of the good feelings from the Amazin' three-game sweep of the Phillies. In the first inning, Hicks smacked a hit off Clay Holmes' glove to help build the first run of the game. When the Marlins retook the lead in the third inning, Hicks hit an RBI grounder to second that allowed Xavier Edwards to score — despite the fact that Jeff McNeil was playing in and tried to nail Edwards at home — and would later score himself on an error by Holmes. After reaching on Pete Alonso's error in the seventh, Hicks would eventually score from third on Otto Lopez's grounder to McNeil with a nifty slide across the plate. And, for good measure, he added another hit in the ninth. So, Liam Hicks, meet Ralph Kiner.

Need To Know:

• With the Phillies crushing the Braves 19-4 behind a four-home-run night from Kyle Schwarber, the second-place Mets fell back to five games behind first-place Philadelphia.

• Francisco Alvarez now has a broken left pinkie, which he injured while being hit by a pitch in a rehab game with Syracuse on Wednesday. He is rehabbing because he already sprained his right thumb with the Mets on Aug. 17. He was 1-for-2 with a double before having to leave Wednesday's game. It was reported that the fracture is slight and he might soon be able to continue his rehab.

• The Marlins used nine rookies in the game.

• Kevin Herget, from Teaneck, NJ, who was signed out of Division III Kean University in Union, NJ, pitched well out of the pen for the Mets, blanking Miami over the final 2.2 innings on one hit with two strikeouts. It was Herget's third relief appearance for the Mets this season, with the other two coming in April and July. He also had a relief outing for the Braves, who picked him up after the Mets DFA'd him early in the season, and has a 1.13 ERA over eight innings overall.

• It marked the 27th start this season for Clay Holmes, who has now logged 142 innings after making the transition from Yankees reliever to Mets starter. Holmes pitched 63 innings in each of the previous two seasons.

• Holmes gave up two earned runs over five innings, giving him a 3.60 ERA.

• Jonah Tong will make his big-league debut in Game 2 against the Marlins at Citi Field. Eury Perez (6-3, 3.44 ERA) will go for Miami. Tong met the media before last night's game.

  
  

Turning Point:

The Mets made two errors in the seventh, which helped the Marlins score three unearned runs and take the lead for good. After Jakob Marsee singled to center off reliever Gregory Soto, Liam Hicks grounded to Pete Alonso, who looked to get the force at second. But when he turned to do so, Alonso dropped the ball and everyone was safe. Augustin Ramirez slammed a single to left and Marsee was going to be held at third, but Brandon Nimmo booted the ball, allowing Marsee to score the go-ahead run. After a strikeout, Otto Lopez grounded to second and Hicks was able to score on a nifty head-first slide. The final run scored on a sacrifice fly by Heriberto Hernandez.

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Three Things:

No glove fest

The Mets' defense had allowed the Marlins to retake the lead for the first time in the third inning. After a hit batsman, a stolen base and a ground out put a runner at third with one out, Liam Hicks' grounded to Jeff McNeil, who tried unsuccessfully to get Xavier Edwards at home. After a ground out moved Hicks to second, Holmes should have been out of the inning on Troy Johnston's grounder to Alonso. But Holmes dropped Alonso's throw and Hicks was able to score from second while Johnston took second. Holmes then yielded an RBI single to Otto Lopez to make it 4-2, Miami.

Alonso reaches 30 homers again

Pete Alonso doubled and scored a run in the Mets' two-run first inning, then got the Mets even in the fifth with a two-run bomb into the seats in centerfield off reliever Lake Bachar. Alonso now has hit at least 30 homers in six of his seven big-league seasons — with the only time he failed to do so being the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. It also raised his Mets home run record to 256 dingers.

Mets don't follow the leader

Francisco Lindor led off the first, third, fifth and seventh innings for the Mets and had hits in three of those. Unfortunately, it only led to runs one time — in the first inning, when Brandon Nimmo's broken-bat grounder down the first-base line plated a pair — as the top of the Mets' lineup failed to capitalize on Lindor's table-setting that followed.