Bryan De La Cruz tied a franchise record by hitting three doubles and Garrett Cooper delivered a two-run homer in the seventh inning Friday night for the Miami Marlins, who beat the host New York Mets 5-2.
Pablo Lopez worked in and out of trouble over five innings in earning the win for the Marlins, who snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 7-2 in their past nine games. The Mets have won four of their past six.
The teams have split the first two games of a four-game series.
The Marlins took a brief lead in the second inning, when Jesus Aguilar hit a leadoff single against Chris Bassitt, went to third on Avisail Garcia’s one-out single and scored on De La Cruz’s first double.
Brandon Nimmo hit a one-out solo homer in the bottom of the third before De La Cruz sparked the go-ahead rally by leading off the fifth with another double. De La Cruz went to third on Miguel Rojas’ single and stayed at third on Jacob Stallings’ groundout to first before scoring on Joey Wendle’s sacrifice fly to right.
Cooper homered for a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth before the Mets almost came all the way back against Steven Okert in the bottom of the inning.
Francisco Lindor hit a solo homer with one out before New York loaded the bases with two outs, when Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch and Mark Canha and J.D. Davis drew walks. However, Eduardo Escobar flied out to shallow center to end the threat.
The Marlins built an insurance run in the ninth after Garcia beat out an infield single. Pinch runner Billy Hamilton stole second, went to third on a flyout by Rojas and scored on Stallings’ safety squeeze to first.
Lopez (6-4), whose lone 1-2-3 inning was in the fifth, allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out five. Tanner Scott, the fifth Marlins pitcher, worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to earn his 11th save.
Bassitt (6-6), who missed the previous 12 days while on the COVID injured list, gave up two runs on six hits and walked none while striking out three over 6 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
