*Photo from TSN*
One pretty good argument is that the best teams in baseball are in New York City. Jeff McNeil drove in a run, Francisco Lindor homered, and the New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins with a 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon in Queens.
With the win, the Mets have picked up their 3rd straight win, also securing a series win against one of their division rivals. The Mets have continued their torrid start to the season, sitting at a 44-23 record right now in the middle of June, and have a 6 1/2 game lead in the NL East. But don't tell that to manager Buck Showalter.
Showalter said of how the season has gone that "I look at seasons in monthly increments. I look at a month in which our schedule falls. I put some things that we need to reach. We have four teams playing in our division. We have to figure out a way to be better than those four teams. It’s as simple as that."
Starting the scoring for the Mets was McNeil. In the second inning, McNeil singled into right field, scoring Mark Canha to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. One inning later, in the 3rd, it was Lindor's time, hitting the eventual game winning two run home run, tripling the Mets lead to 3-0 after 3 innings of play.
It stayed a 3-0 game all the way until the 7th inning. There, Jazz Chisholm Jr scored on an RBI double into right center field from Avisail Garcia, getting the Marlins on the board and making it a 3-1 game. It became 3-2 when Garrett Cooper hit an RBI single in the 9th, but that was it for the Marlins.
Getting the start and the win for the Mets was Taijuan Walker. In the win, Walker allowed one run on two hits, striking out 9 hitters over 6 2/3 innings pitched. Drew Smith came out of the bullpen and fired 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Edwin Diaz picked up his 14th save of the year in the 9th inning.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Walker that "He looked like he was pretty much getting ahead in the count. I thought he kept the ball down. He's always had that good slider and his split. Seemed like everything he was able to do, he was able to throw strikes, get ahead in the count, and that's always going to put you on the defensive."
For the Marlins, Braxton Garrett got the start, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits over 4 innings of work. The bullpen was shutout in relief of Garrett. First it was Dylan Floro with a scoreless inning. Then came shutout appearances from Jimmy Yacabonis, Richard Bleier, and Louis Head to keep the Marlins in it all game long.
Up next, the Mets and Marlins wrap up their weekend series on Sunday afternoon. Chris Bassitt takes the mound and starts for the Mets, while Sandy Alcantara goes for the Marlins.
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