The Mets have often been the culprit behind some bizarre baseball, but Friday at Citi Field it was the Miami Marlins responsible for the oddities. At least most of them.
Marlins (3-5) right-hander Edward Cabrera couldn’t find the strike zone but the Mets (4-4) couldn’t find the ball with the barrel in the early innings. Still, their patience at the plate paid off in a 9-3 win over the Fish in the home opener.
“It took us a little bit to break through but when we did, we really did well,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “It was good to go up and put up some runs and [Tylor] Megill did his job. It was amazing.”
Nothing went according to plan except for maybe the win. The game was moved to Friday because of rain in the forecast, which never came. Instead, Thursday brought sunshine and warm temperatures and by the time the right-hander Megill (2-0) took the mound Friday, it was gray and chilly.
Speaking of Megill, he wasn’t even supposed to be pitching in the home opener. That honor was given to Justin Verlander, the reigning Cy Young Award winner who was brought in to be one of two aces at the front of the rotation.
Megill was supposed to start the Triple-A opener.
But Megill, the Mets’ Opening Day starter in 2022, cruised through six shutout innings, scattering only three hits, walking two and striking out three filling in for the injured Verlander.
“He was solid,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He had command of a lot of pitches and attacked the strike zone. Not an easy day to pitch. Windy, cold, tough to grip the baseball. Another benefit of having big hands, I guess.”
Meanwhile, you could say Cabrera scattered seven walks.
Cabrera (0-1) was lifted from the game during the third inning down 1-0 with a no-hitter intact. He walked in a run with two outs and was replaced by Huascar Brazoban. But then Daniel Vogelbach sent a dribbler down the right side and the Marlins forgot to cover first, allowing the DH to reach safely and Starling Marte to score.
The Mets pushed another run over in the fourth by capitalizing on bad defense and bad control by Brazoban. Marte took Matt Barnes deep to the left-center bleachers in the sixth inning to give the Mets a 4-0 lead. The home team then tacked on two runs in the seventh, again loading the bases without even putting a ball in play. Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso belted back-to-back home runs in the eighth off lefty Daniel Castano.
“I’m really impressed with the patience of our hitters,” Showalter said. “They’re wanting to score and push and push and push. I hope everybody knows how hard it is to stay selective when you’re wanting to hit and score runs.”
The Mets drew 12 total walks and one batter was hit by a pitch, bringing the season total to a league-leading eight. Nimmo reached four times via base on balls and three other players walked twice.
“That’s my job to get on base for these big boys,” Nimmo said. “They did their job, I did my job today.”
Two days after giving up a walk-off home run in Milwaukee, Adam Ottavino had a bounce-back outing going 1-2-3 in the seventh in relief of Megill. Dennis Santana failed to get out of a two-out jam in the eighth, giving up a 408-foot three-run homer to Garrett Cooper, who killed the Mets last weekend in Miami and now has nine home runs against the Amazins’.
Brooks Raley and Denyi Reyes got the last four outs to secure the Mets’ first win in front of a home crowd this season.
PUT IT IN THE BOOKS
Nimmo leads the league with 10 walks on the season. He’s the first player for the Mets to draw four walks in a game since J.D. Davis did it Sept. 18, 2020, against the Atlanta Braves. … Alonso’s home run was No. 150 for his career, which ties him with Carlos Beltran for sixth place on the Mets’ all-time list. He became the second-fastest player in Major League history to reach 150 home runs, doing so in his 538th game. Former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard still has the record for the fastest player to reach 150, doing so in his 495th game. … Megill joined Tom Seaver as the only other pitcher in club history to throw six shutout innings and allow three or fewer hits in a home opener.
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