Mets Score 2 in 9th, Beat Marlins

Struggling Curtis Granderson had a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive home the winning run as the Mets came back to beat the Marlins 4-3 Friday night at Citi Field.

Eric Young got the Mets on the board in the third inning with what we should start calling a “Young Run.” He reached on an infield single (which probably should have been an error on shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria), stole second, went to third on a fly out and scored when David Wright singled through the drawn in infield. Wright came around when Daniel Murphy doubled into the corner in left to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

Zack Wheeler didn’t allow a hit until a lead off single in the fourth inning, but he gave one of the runs back in the fifth. He walked lead off batter Derek Dietrich, and with one out Dietrich was sacrificed to second. Wheeler then threw a wild pitch to move Dietrich to third. After walking Christian Yelich, Wheeler allowed a run scoring single to cut the Mets lead to 2-1 and move Yelich to third. But Wheeler was able to strand him there by getting slugger Giancarlo Stanton to ground out.

Wheeler worked out of another jam in the sixth inning. With runners on first and third with one out, Wheeler was able to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.

Wheeler was done after the sixth. He threw 110 pitches, allowing just the one run on four hits. He struck out 10 batters and walked three.

Gonzalez Germen pitched a perfect seventh and got the first two outs of the eighth. With two strikes on Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Gonzalez threw a pitch that was just off the plate, although close enough to be called strike three. But it was not. Saltalamacchia did not let the opportunity pass — he homered into the Party City Deck to tie the game at two. Garrett Jones followed with a homer off the foul pole in right and suddenly the Marlins had a 3-2 lead.

The Mets went out meekly in the eighth, but Lucas Duda led off the ninth against Marlins closer Steve Cisheck by dropping a single into right field. Terry Collins had Travis d’Arnaud sacrifice Duda to second, with which I still disagree even though it worked. Pinch hitter Bobby Abreu lined out to left for the second out. So the game came down Omar Quintanilla, who came in on a double switch in the seventh. On a 3-2 count he singled to short left. It looked like Yelich would have a chance to gun down Duda at the plate, but he fell down and Duda scored without a throw to tie the game at three. Pinch hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled into the gap in left center to put runners on second and third. Curtis Granderson then singled under the glove of first baseman Garrett Jones to right to give the Mets a stunning come from behind win, 4-3.