Mets bully Marlins bullpen to seal yet another series win

NEW YORK—The Miami Marlins made it to the fifth inning in a 2-2 tie with the New York Mets. Then, manager Clayton McCullough began pushing buttons. None of them worked on this breezy Tuesday afternoon with four different relievers allowing at least three baserunners apiece. The Fish ultimately lost, 10-5, and sank below the .500 mark for the first time this season.

"Our guys have thrown the ball so well to this point, but today, they just happened to do a nice job with the opportunities that they had to cash them in," McCullough said postgame.

Newly converted to starting duty, Mets right-hander Clay Holmes is a groundball machine. He has induced grounders on 66.4% of batted balls during his career, the third-highest rate among all active pitchers (min. 250 IP). Meanwhile, the Marlins offense once again leads the majors in groundball rate.

So, naturally, Holmes faced 23 batters in this outing...and had zero grounders to show for it. Every Marlin who put the ball in play against him got it elevated to some extent. The issue was making contact in the first place. Holmes shattered his previous career high with 10 strikeouts (eight of them swinging).

Liam Hicks' 22nd plate appearance as a big leaguer was his first in a bases-loaded situation. With two outs in the top of the first inning, he lined a single to left field that gave the Fish a 2-0 lead.

The Mets retaliated immediately. In the bottom of the inning, Connor Gillispie misplaced a cutter over the heart of the plate and Francisco Lindor drilled it into the upper deck in right field.

The game-tying run crossed the plate in flukier fashion. Notorious Marlins killer Pete Alonso skied a ball to right field that barely stayed in fair territory and fell in between Kyle Stowers and Otto Lopez. It took a big enough bounce off the dirt to easily clear the side wall, but protective netting kept it in play, enabling Juan Soto to score from first base.

With Gillispie struggling to get a grip on the ball in the 43-degree weather and frequently falling behind in counts, McCullough got his bullpen warming early. Calvin Faucher was getting ready in case Lindor came to the plate in the fourth inning with runners on base. Gillispie completed the inning on his own before that situation presented itself, but McCullough went to his high-leverage arm anyway in the bottom of the fifth, calling it "the best situation to deploy him" against the top of the Mets lineup.

Facing the same group of hitters in Miami last week, Faucher blew a three-run lead. In this instance, he surrendered four runs, though only one was earned due to a Matt Mervis fielding error. Brandon Nimmo's two-run double put the Mets ahead for good.

The Marlins rallied in the top of the sixth inning to keep things interesting, punctuated by a Derek Hill two-run homer off of Huascar Brazobán to make it a 6-5 score.

Alas, the Mets re-padded their lead in the bottom half of the frame. Back-to-back infield singles and a productive flyout put runners on the corners with one out. McCullough replaced Xzavion Curry with Ronny Henriquez, who's more likely to induce a double play ball to escape the jam. Rather than challenge Soto in that situation, they intentionally walked him to set up a right-on-right matchup against the red-hot Alonso, who proceeded to unload the bases by ripping a three-run double to left-center field.

Hill stopped the bleeding with an awesome diving catch for the final out of the inning.

Propped up by their 4-1 head-to-head record against Miami, the Mets have taken over the NL East division lead.

The Marlins' first road trip of the season concludes on Wednesday. Max Meyer will be making his third start, coming off a career-high eight strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves. Right-hander Tylor Megill, who has allowed only one run through 10 ⅓ innings pitched, takes the mound for the Mets. First pitch at 1:10 p.m. ET.