Perfectly Imperfect Mets 7-5 win over Marlins

Mets 7 Rays 5 (loanDepot Park • Miami, FL)

Mets record: 67-78

Mets streak: Won 3

WP - Sean Manaea (5-7)

LP - Sandy Alcantara (13-10)

SV - Kodia Senga (7)

Seat on the Korner: Juan Soto

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

For the Star of the Game, there really wasn’t much debate. Juan Soto gets the hardware after going 2-for-4 with a double and his 24th home run of the season, a three-run blast in the second inning that turned a 2-0 Mets lead into a 5-0 cushion against Sandy Alcantara. But Soto wasn’t finished making his presence felt. With the Mets protecting their lead in the ninth, Soto made a nice defensive play in left field to help get the inning started and put the finishing touches on an all-around night. The home run may have been the headline, but the double and the glove were nice supporting acts. Two hits, three RBI, a big defensive play and, most importantly, a big win—that’s a pretty good night at the office for Juan Soto.

Need to Know

• With the win tonight the Mets secured their 20th series victory of the season

  and their tenth on the road.

• The Mets have won five of their last six games and four of their last five road games.

• The Mets continued their six-game road trip (2-0), heading to Miami (2-0) and across town to Yankee Stadium (three games).

• The Mets are 20-12 since the trade deadline, The Mets are 33-31 since Andy Green replaced Carlos Mendoza.

• Over 47 games since the All-Star break, Mets

  relievers are 12-4 with a 3.01 ERA...They have allowed 56 ER in 167.2

  innings. (update)

• Carson Benge has 144 hits, the fourth-most by a Mets rookie in a single season...Ron Hunt is next with 145, followed by Ty Wigginton (146) and Pete Alonso (155)

• Francisco Lindor's leadoff home run was his 17th as Met, the Mets record is 21 held by Jose Reyes and Curtis Granderson. It was his second leadoff Home run against Sandy Alcantara, and it was the fourth time the Mets have hit a lead off home run against Alcantara.

• RHP Sandy Alcantara made his 200th career start for Miami tonight, and his 32nd of the season, he became the first this season to surpass 200.0 IP. It was the third time Alcantara has tossed at least 200.0 innings in his career (2021, 205.2 IP and 2022, 228.2 IP) and can join LHP Dontrelle Willis (2005-07) as the only players in Franchise history to reach the 200.0 IP mark in three different seasons. Alcantara, who this season has become the Franchise's all-time leader in strikeouts (1,064), innings pitched (1,267), quality starts (116), and games started (200), last week he became the only starter in Marlins history to make at least 30 starts in five different seasons. The all-time wins at loanDepot park leader (32), With the loss tonight Alcantara still needs one more win to match LHP Dontrelle Willis (33) for the most

  home wins in Club history.

• The Miami Marlins are 43-31 at home this season, with their 43 home wins tied for sixth in the Majors and ranking fifth in the NL behind only Atlanta (48), Milwaukee (48), Los Angeles-NL (45), and San Diego (44). Miami's 43 wins at home are the second-most in loanDepot park history, behind only the 2023 team which set the ballpark's record with 46 wins.

• Brett Baty has eight RBI and five extra-base hits over his last five games...Has recorded an extra-base hit in five consecutive times for the

  first time in his career...Is the longest such streak by a Met this season , the Mets record for consectutive games with an extra base hit was set by Yoenis Céspedes who had an extra-base hit in nine consecutive games in 2015.

  
  

Turning Point

The game’s turning point came in the top of the second inning, and it came off the bat of the guy you’d most like to see coming to the plate in a situation like this: Juan Soto. The Mets had already scratched out a 2-0 lead, but with Sandy Alcantara—Miami’s ace—on the mound, two runs maybe all you get. But Soto changed all that in one swing. After Brett Baty lined out and Francisco Alvarez singled, Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch, putting two runners aboard for Soto. He launched a 108.2 mph 417 foot fly ball to center field that kept carrying until it landed over the wall for his 24th home run of the season—a three-run shot that brought home Alvarez and Lindor and suddenly made it 5-0 Mets. Against Alcantara, that was more than just another home run; it was a statement. The Mets had taken on Miami’s Ace and turned a 2-0 game into a comfortable lead, giving Sean Manaea something every starting pitcher loves: breathing room.

Three Keys

Remember The 8th night of September...Ma-na-ea, Dancin' in September

Sean Manaea’s night pretty much ran the gamut of the Earth, Wind & Fire catalog. For the first five innings, he was "September” personified—perfect through five, cruising with a 7-0 lead and looking every bit like the guy who now owns an 18-11 record and a 3.59 ERA in 45 career September appearances. Those 18 September victories are the most he has in any calendar month of his career, so perhaps we should have known this was going to be his time of year. But then came the sixth inning, and suddenly the Marlins introduced us to“Serpentine Fire.” What began as a comfortable seven-run advantage quickly became a three-run game as Miami strung together a single, a double, another double and another single, with a throwing error and a fielding error tossed into the mix for good measure. Manaea, who had been untouchable through five, was finally pulled after the damage had been done, charged with the first four Miami runs of the inning before Jonathan Pintaro came in to put out the fire. It was a tale of two Seans: the first five innings were “September,” the sixth was “Serpentine Fire,” and thankfully for the Mets, that early seven-run cushion meant Manaea could still “Sing a Song” at the end of the night on his way to yet another September victory.

Lavender Haze

Nate Lavender, delivered the biggest outs of the night. After Sean Manaea allowed the Marlins to turn a 7-0 laugher into a 7-4 ballgame, Lavender entered the seventh with Miami suddenly believing it had a pulse. He immediately struck out Deyvison De Los Santos, but the real test came after Jakob Marsee singled and Jared Serna doubled, putting runners at second and third with the tying run suddenly at bat. Lavender had no room for error, and he got exactly what the Mets needed: a strikeout of power hitting pinch-hitter Kyle Stowers, freezing him on strikes for the second out. That was potentially the biggest out of the game. One more hit could have made it 7-6, put the tying run on base and turned a game the Mets had dominated into a full-blown nail-biter. Instead, Lavender slammed the door, getting Heriberto Hernández to ground out to Francisco Lindor to end the inning. Consider what Lavender has been doing all season: after this appearance, he had thrown 14.0 scoreless innings in 14 appearances, allowing just six hits while striking out 17. His 14 straight scoreless appearances to begin his career are already the second-longest streak in Mets history, behind only Joe Smith and Jack DiLauro, who each opened their Mets careers with 17 consecutive scoreless outings.

Wooly Bully

If there was ever a night when the Mets’ bullpen needed to prove that all those recent numbers were more than just pretty statistics, this was it. Coming into tonight, Mets relievers had thrown 8.1 consecutive scoreless innings over their previous two games, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out 10. Since the All-Star break, they had gone 12-4 with a 3.01 ERA over 47 games, allowing 56 earned runs in 167.2 innings. Then came tonight, and the bullpen simply kept doing what it has been doing. After Sean Manaea’s sixth-inning adventure, Jonatan Pintaro worked a scoreless inning, allowing just one hit. Nate Lavender followed with a scoreless inning of his own, surrendering two hits but striking out two enormous batters, including Kyle Stowers with the tying run suddenly becoming a possibility. Dedniel Núñez then tossed a spotless inning, allowing no hits and striking out one, before Kodai Senga took the ball to finish things off. Senga closed out his inning allowing a run, but then Senga threw 10 straight ghost forks to record the final two outs via strike out.