The reeling New York Mets will look to avoid being swept on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Miami Marlins in the finale of a three-game series between the National League East foes.
Christian Scott (0-0, 4.12 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow right-hander Tyler Phillips (0-0, 1.20), who will make his first start of the season for Miami.
The Marlins locked up the series win on Saturday when Max Meyer allowed only one hit over seven scoreless innings and improved to 5-0 as Miami beat the Mets 4-1.
The loss was the fourth in five games for the Mets, who will head home following this game in sole possession of last place in the NL East. The Marlins moved 1 1/2 games ahead of New York with their Saturday win.
The Mets didn’t score on Saturday until Mark Vientos’ two-out RBI single in the ninth and have been outscored 24-14 in the past five games.
The team-wide slump is reminiscent of the extended drought the Mets endured in April, when they lost 17 of their final 20 games of the month while averaging 2.7 runs per game. The slide started with a 12-game losing streak from April 8-21 — the longest skid for New York since 2002.
The Mets opened May by winning 11 of 16 games, a span in which they averaged 5.4 runs per contest.
“The past couple games, we’ve faced some good pitching,” Vientos said. “Obviously we haven’t done what we’ve wanted at the plate, but got to give credit where credit is due. The pitchers that we’ve faced, they’ve been doing their thing. And we’re just going to come (Sunday) and come back strong.”
Phillips, who has allowed more than one run just once in 15 relief appearances this season, will look to follow in the footsteps of Meyer and Eury Perez as the Marlins try to complete their first series sweep since March 27-29 against the Colorado Rockies.
Perez gave up one run on two hits — both to Juan Soto — over 6 1/3 innings in the series opener on Friday as he earned the 2-1 win for Miami.
Phillips, who has thrown three innings in relief four times this season, is taking the rotation spot of Braxton Garrett, who was demoted to Triple-A Jacksonville on Wednesday. The start against the Mets will be the first for Philips since last Sept. 7 and the ninth of his three-year big league career.
“We believe he has the pitches and the ability to start it,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’s done it in the past, something we had spoken with him about last year and had stretched him out some on the fly. As circumstances have happened in recent weeks, felt like he’s been throwing the ball terrifically.”
Scott didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Monday, when he gave up three runs over four innings in New York’s 16-7, 12-inning win over the Nationals.
Phillips hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, when he allowed an unearned run over three innings in the Marlins’ 9-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Scott is 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA in two career starts against the Marlins, and Phillips is 0-0 with an 0.00 ERA in five career relief appearances spanning 6 2/3 innings against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
