Three eventful games in New York have provided the Miami Marlins plenty of reason to be encouraged.
For the New York Mets, the most prolific offensive month in team history has done the same — even if they’re going to have a losing record in August.
The Marlins will look to win their first series in almost a month on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Mets in the finale of a four-game series.
Sandy Alcantara (7-11, 5.87 ERA) is slated to start for Miami against fellow right-hander Kodai Senga (7-5, 2.73).
The Marlins won a back-and-forth game Saturday when Connor Norby hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of an 11-8 victory.
Miami scored five times in the first inning against David Peterson and led 8-2 in the third before the Mets scored six unanswered runs and tied the score on Juan Soto’s two-run homer in the sixth.
But the Marlins authored their second late-inning rally of the series thanks to Norby, whose fly to right easily scored Agustin Ramirez two innings before Norby provided insurance with a two-run double.
Miami scored three times in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 7-4 win. The Marlins lost 19-9 on Friday but scored all of their runs after the Mets took a 12-0 lead.
The 27 runs in this series are the third-most the Marlins have scored in a three-game span this season.
Miami hasn’t won a series since sweeping a three-game set from the New York Yankees from Aug. 1-3.
“I think we’ve shown from Opening Day to this point that our group has been incredibly resilient,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “And regardless of how a game is going, we just continue to punch. And sometimes you’re down, you just stay in the fight until the end and give yourself the best shot to try to come back.”
The Mets have displayed their own comeback skills throughout a chaotic August. New York is 11-16 this month but has set team records with 176 runs and 53 homers.
The Mets opened the month by losing eight of nine games, a span in which they scored four runs or fewer six times. New York is averaging 7.6 runs over its last 18 games, a span during which it has reached double figures four times.
The robust stretch has come despite little time to rest for the Mets, who will play their 13th game in as many days Sunday. New York is slated to visit the American League-leading Detroit Tigers Monday for a three-game set before an off day Thursday.
The Mets hold the final wild-card position in the National League.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Soto said. “Definitely have a tough stretch right now, (16) games in a row ain’t easy. Definitely going to have ups and downs through the (16) games.”
Alcantara didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Tuesday, when he allowed two runs over seven innings as the Marlins fell to the Atlanta Braves 11-2. He is 4-5 with a 3.10 ERA in 16 career starts against the Mets.
Senga also didn’t receive a decision Monday after giving up three runs over four innings in the Mets’ 13-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. He is 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA in six starts against the Marlins.
–Field Level Media
