Marlins walk it off for the fourth time this season

[Kevin Barral]

For his career, Josh Bell had been 0-for-5 against closer Edwin Díaz. On Saturday, Bell took him deep on the first pitch to keep the Marlins alive, setting up an Otto Lopez walk-off base hit in the bottom of the tenth.

MIAMI, FL—After winning each of their past three games in shutout fashion, the Miami Marlins showed that their offense is also capable of leading them to victory. On Saturday, despite trailing the Mets 7-2 after five innings and 9-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, they found a way to tie it up and finish the job in extra innings, much like the team that had so many late-game rallies in 2023. The Marlins walked-off the Mets by a final score of 10-9 in ten innings.

This season, Mets closer Edwin Díaz has struggled, posting a 3.57 ERA and 4.37 FIP. Díaz has also struggled to close out games as he only had five saves on the season, but three blown saves. On Saturday, he suffered his worst blow-up of them all.

Vidal Bruján led off the ninth inning with a double and was driven in by Jazz Chisholm Jr., but still trailed 9-6. A Bryan De La Cruz base hit put runners on first and second with Josh Bell up. In his career against Edwin Diaz, Bell was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. On the first pitch that the Marlins first baseman saw, he took Diaz deep 428 feet to dead center for a three-run shot that tied the game at nine apiece.

"He might be a guy that you want to wait out." said Bell after the game. "Just watching Bruján, watching Jazz and De La get hits there, decided to try to jump on the slider over the heart of the plate."

After what was a rough start to the season for Bell, a new month has been exactly what he needed. Entering Saturday's game, Bell was slashing .296/.387/.463/.850 in May with two home runs and 10 RBIs. On Saturday, Bell went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs.

"Didn't think he was going to hit .160 or .170 forever," said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "He's just too good of a player. He's gonna be playing every day. It wasn't like I was gonna take him out of games. He's good on both sides of the plate. It's just a matter of time and we needed him to get going."

Bell tied it, but Otto Lopez walked it off for the Fish, the first walk-off hit of his career. With a runner on third, Lopez was facing former Marlins reliever Jorge Lopez (no relation to each other). On a 1-1 count, Lopez went with the sinker right down the middle that the rookie infielder was able to take advantage of and knock an RBI single to center field.

After tough start to the season, Marlins utility man Nick Gordon has turned it around, slashing .302/.318/.465/.783 with two home runs and four RBIs in May. Gordon kicked the game off with an RBI double, driving in Jesús Sánchez to have the Marlins trail by one run in the bottom of the second inning. Gordon ended the game going 2-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored.

"Not trying to hit it over our bullpen," said Schumaker following the game on what he's seen from Gordon this month. "When he's middled the other way, he's a good hitter. When you're seeing the doubles and singles the other way, that means he's staying on the ball. He's got enough power pull side. That's going to happen. He doesn't have to try to force it."

In the bottom of the third inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. took advantage of Mets starter Luis Severino's sinker and hit his sixth home run of the season, tying the game at two apiece. The ball left the bat at 106.4 mph and went 413 feet. That was Chisholm's third-longest home run of the season.

Chisholm would then knock in an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Marlins center fielder ended the game going 3-for-5 with a home run two RBIs. He scored two runs as well. The lead-off hitter is now slashing .260/.333/.434/.767 with six home run and 24 RBIs.

Starting pitcher Braxton Garrett took the mound for his second start of the season. Garrett ran into trouble right away. In the top of the first inning, the Marlins starter surrendered back-to-back RBI singles to give the Mets an early 2-0 lead. Both of those hits came on the changeup. In the top of the fourth inning, Francisco Lindor grounded out, but the runner on third scored, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Although Garrett struck out five, he gave up six runs. That's because in top of the fifth inning, Miami went to Declan Cronin with one out and the bases loaded. One of the best relievers on the team this season, Cronin had yet to allow any inherited runners to score. Different story for him in this appearance. The first hitter he faced was Harrison Bader who smacked an RBI single to drive in two runs, making it a 5-2 game and then Jeff McNeil drove in Starling Marte and Bader on an single, giving the Mets what looked at the time to be a comfortable 7-2 advantage.

With the win, the Marlins find themselves on a season-best four-game win streak and move up to 15-32 on the season while the Mets drop to 20-25. The Marlins go for their second sweep of the season on Sunday with Sixto Sánchez taking the mound. First pitch is at 1:40 pm.

View full article