MIAMI -- The Mets have clinched the season series against the Miami Marlins.
Travis d'Arnaud delivered a tiebreaking RBI double against Bryan Morris in what became a two-run eighth and the Mets held on to beat the Marlins 4-3 in Wednesday’s rubber game.
Travis d'Arnaud
#15 C
New York Mets
2014 STATS
- GM94
HR12
RBI34
R40
OBP.299
- AVG.237
The Mets are 10-6 against Miami this season. A three-game series remains in New York from Sept. 15-17.
What? Carlos Torres batted with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth and the Mets leading 4-2. He struck out. Terry Collins did not have Jeurys Familia available and undoubtedly felt he needed to have Torres –-- who finished the seventh -- work the bottom of the eighth as well.
Torres then surrendered a solo homer to Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom half as Miami pulled within a run.
The alternative was to pinch hit for Torres and use Dana Eveland or Erik Goeddel in the eighth.
Debutant: With the Mets clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh, Collins inserted left-hander Dario Alvarez with a runner on third base and two outs in his major league debut. Alvarez surrendered a game-tying RBI single to lefty-hitting Christian Yelich as the Marlins pulled even and handed Jacob deGrom a no-decision.
Lefty batters hit .181 against Alvarez this season in the minors, although that primarily came at low-A Savannah.
deLightful: DeGrom made it through six innings before his pitch count reached 114. The rookie right-hander surrendered only one run.
DeGrom allowed a pair of baserunners in each of the first three innings and nearly escaped completely unscathed.
With Yelich on second and Donovan Solano on first and none out in the third, deGrom coaxed a 6-4-3 double play from Stanton as Yelich advanced to third base. Casey McGehee then hit a chopper back toward the mound. The ball glanced off the glove of the leaping deGrom and ricocheted toward second baseman Dilson Herrera. He barehanded it and threw to first base, but Lucas Duda was unable to scoop the baseball. The infield hit plated Yelich.
DeGrom sliced his ERA to 2.87.
Kirk! Kirk Nieuwenhuis, inserted in the lineup over Curtis Granderson for the second time in four games, produced a two-run homer in the fourth against Tom Koehler that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead. Nieuwenhuis also walked three times (once intentionally).
The Mets improved to 14-2 in Nieuwenhuis’ starts this season.
Golden sombrero: A day after going 3-for-4 with two extra-base hits and three RBIs and feeling “dangerous” at the plate, David Wright went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.
Welcome back: Josh Satin pinch hit for deGrom in the seventh. In his first major league at-bat since May 9, Satin flied out to right field.
What’s next: The Mets take a day off on the road Thursday, then resume play with a weekend series in Cincinnati. Untraded Bartolo Colon (12-11, 4.01 ERA) opposes right-hander Alfredo Simon (13-9, 3.28) in Friday’s 7:10 p.m. opener.