Mets Leave 15 Men On Base, Bullpen Unravels Late To Lose Three Out Of Four To Last-Place Marlins

The Mets' offense struggled again and their bullpen unraveled late on Thursday as they ultimately lost three out of four to the last-place Marlins.

The Mets needed to get out of Miami with a split, but that didn't happen.

After another rough day offensively, where they left 15 men on base, the Mets' bullpen unraveled late to fall to the Marlins by a score of 4-2.

The Amazins' ultimately lost three out of four games to the last-place Marlins, and are now 56-52 on the season. 

With the score tied in the bottom of the eighth, the Marlins got to Jeurys Familia with three runs to take a 4-1 lead.

A borderline strike that was called a ball led to a one out walk for Miguel Rojas. And that's when it all fell apart for Familia.

The Marlins jumped on the right-hander for three hits afterwards, including a two-run double by Lewis Brinson, and that was all for Familia, who exited after recording just one out.

The Mets got the tying run to the plate in the ninth against Anthony Bender, but Javier Baez struck out for the fifth time on the day for a platinum sombrero. While Conforto reached on an error to load the bases with two outs, and pinch-hitter Brandon Drury drove in a run to cut the deficit to 4-2, Albert Almora grounded out to seal the loss. 

The Mets' lead in the NL East is down to just one game, barring the result of the Phillies' contest with the Nationals tonight. Regardless, this sets up a crucial weekend series, as the Mets will travel to Philadelphia tomorrow for a battle for first-place.

"This obviously wasn't the way we wanted this series to go," said a frustrated Michael Conforto after the game. "We are going to be upset about it for a bit, but you have to flush it. We are on to Philly." 

When asked if he believes that the Mets will still be in first following their next series, Conforto remained firm.

"We are showing up every day with the intent to win," he said. "I think that answers your question."

The Mets were initially trailing 1-0 in this game until the top of the sixth, where the offense produced a two out rally against Marlins reliever David Hess. First, Albert Almora recorded his third hit of the day with a double to keep the inning alive. This prompted Luis Rojas to pinch-hit Brandon Nimmo for his pitcher Rich Hill, and Nimmo was able to draw a walk. 

That's when Jonathan Villar came up big with a game-tying RBI single to left field to knot things up 1-1. 

Pete Alonso was then able to work a walk to load the bases, which saw Marlins fill-in manager James Rowson pull a gassed Hess in favor of Paul Campbell. And Campbell did his job by inducing an inning-ending fly out from Dom Smith.

After Rich Hill tossed five solid innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits, the Mets' bullpen was asked to do some heavy lifting once again.

And the 'pen did their job at first, as Miguel Castro and Drew Smith each worked scoreless innings, but unfortunately, Familia did not have the same fate.

In the top of the first inning, the Mets failed to score with the bases loaded and nobody out against Marlins rookie pitcher Braxton Garrett. The left-hander was able to escape trouble with back-to-back strikeouts of J.D. Davis, and last night's hero Javier Baez. Michael Conforto then flied out to end the threat, as the Mets wasted a prime scoring chance.

Garrett stifled the Mets through five shutout innings. And although the offense had their chances, recording five hits and drawing four walks against Garrett, they left eight men on base up until this point.

The Marlins struck first in the bottom of the third when Miguel Rojas singled to right and advanced to second after Conforto booted the ball in the outfield. Rojas then stole third, which allowed the Marlins to get on a the board via a Jazz Chisholm sac-fly.