Muñoz outduels Severino, but J.D. Martinez gets last laugh with walk-off smash

[Ely Sussman]

Muñoz tossed six nearly flawless frames to solidify his standing in the Marlins starting rotation.

NEW YORK—With a veteran-laden roster and still within striking distance of an NL Wild Card spot, the New York Mets needed Thursday's game a lot more than the Miami Marlins did. For six innings, rookie right-hander Roddery Muñoz suffocated their lineup anyway. Muñoz recorded 16 outs before allowing a hit and faced only one batter over the minimum while clinging to a slim lead. Alas, with two outs to spare in the bottom of the ninth inning, J.D. Martinez stunned Tanner Scott and the Fish with a walk-off home run against one of baseball's best closers to make it a 3-2 final score. 

The decisive pitch wasn't even in a bad location, but Scott still took responsibility for the leadoff walk to Francisco Lindor that brought the potential winning run to the plate, as well as the way he fell behind in the count 3-1 to Martinez.

"I trust my stuff more than anything," Scott said postgame. "He got me."

The game's dramatic ending was comparable to Miami's April 14 loss to the Atlanta Braves when Marcell Ozuna occupied the Martinez role and turned a 7-6 deficit into a 9-7 lead by taking Scott deep. However, considering the complete set of circumstances, this was a far rarer outcome. Courtesy of Alex Carver's research, this is only the third time in Marlins history that they've scored multiple runs, limited their opponent to three hits or fewer and still lost.

 

Marvelous Muñoz

It was not a particularly dominant no-hit bid by Muñoz. The 24-year-old Dominican threw a pedestrian 60.4% of his pitches for strikes while recording 10 whiffs (right in line with his season average). The results were impressive, nonetheless. It marks the first scoreless start of Muñoz's MLB career and the three baserunners allowed—one hit, one walk and one hit batsman—matched the personal best from his April 20 debut. 

"I would put this one on top," Muñoz said via interpreter, citing the length of the start (he went only five innings in his debut).

Muñoz has a five-pitch mix, but leaned heavily on his cutter and four-seam fastball, accounting for 71.6% of his total pitches with those two offerings.

Meanwhile, Luis Severino dealt with far more traffic. The Marlins had an excellent opportunity to break up the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth. A Jesús Sánchez leadoff double and walks drawn by Jake Burger and Nick Gordon loaded the bases with one out. Tim Anderson got ahead in the count 3-1, but Severino escaped without any damage. Anderson fouled off a 97 mph fastball at the knees. Severino challenged him with another one and induced a 4-6-3 double play.

Burger took matters into his own hands in the sixth. He clobbered Severino's 91st pitch deep to right field for his sixth home run of the season. The veteran right-hander probably wanted to place this 1-2 fastball a bit higher in the zone, but not a "mistake" pitch by any means.

Muñoz's effectiveness immediately began to wane when he retook the mound in the bottom of the sixth. He fell behind 3-0 to Jeff McNeil on three non-competitive pitches before fighting back to record a groundout. His 0-1 changeup to Harrison Bader floated up in the zone and Bader crushed it 368 feet, but swung too soon, pulling it foul into the Citi Field upper deck. Later in the at-bat, Bader lined a single to right-center field to break up the no-hit bid.

It would prove to be harmless, however. Christian Bethancourt made an outstanding throw to catch Bader attempting to steal second base. Francisco Lindor lined out to left for the final out.

The second batter to step to the plate against the volatile Mets bullpen, Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided an insurance run in the seventh by taking righty Drew Smith 426 feet deep to center field.

That was just enough to cover for Anthony Bender's struggles in the bottom of the seventh. He loaded the bases with nobody out, then rallied back from a 3-0 count to get Starling Marte to ground into a double play (plating the first Mets run in the process). 

Calvin Faucher entered next and retired Mark Vientos to temporarily preserve the lead.

Scott's scoreless streak was snapped after 15 ⅓ consecutive innings.

"Today was a tough day, but those are gonna happen," Schumaker said.

Although the Marlins out-hit the Mets, 8-3, they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, failing to augment their pair of solo homers.

This was Miami's fifth straight series loss.

 

What else stood out

• The Marlins have a 7-4 record in Chisholm's career when he records a home run and a stolen base in the same game.
• Muñoz threw only two changeups. He had thrown at least seven in each of his previous Marlins outings.
• Coinciding with his return from the bereavement list, Tim Anderson capped off his best series as a hitter this season. TA had a 22 wRC+ prior to this series. After back-to-back-to-back multi-hit games, that has climbed to 33 (which is still horrendous, to be clear).
• Reinstated from a brief injured list stint prior to the game, Edwin Díaz handled the ninth inning for New York. He retired the side in order and was awarded the win.

 

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For the next leg of this NL East road trip, the Marlins will take on the Washington Nationals. Left-hander MacKenzie Gore is Washington's probable starter for the opener of the three-game set on Friday. Schumaker hinted that the Marlins are going with somebody who isn't currently on the active roster. My best guess is Triple-A Jacksonville righty Shaun Anderson, who would be working on five days' rest. That'd be Anderson's Marlins debut as he was just acquired from the Texas Rangers on May 30. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET.

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[Leo Armbrister]

The Marlins could have signed  J D but Sherman is to cheap. 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

You're right on with the (usual) missed opportunities, such as the top of the 4th inning. These situations are where games are won or lost and highlight just how unproductive some of the lineup is in key situations. While the loss is of little consequence overall, this game was wasted, as was Munoz's solid effort. The lack of timely hitting and Bender's wildness are the real culprits, not an outlier home run from a professional hitter like Martinez. Scott's work this season needs no defending. 

[Ely Sussman]

36 minutes ago, Leo Armbrister said:

The Marlins could have signed  J D but Sherman is to cheap. 

Yes. He could've helped a bit, but it also would have meant playing Bell at 1B every day and Burger at 3B every day. Defense has been a major weakness as it is and having J.D. at DH would make that even more problematic. Cancels out some of what he brings as a hitter.