Mets Blow Game to Marlins

The Mets lost to the Marlins in the bottom of the ninth Monday, blowing a three-run eighth inning lead and wasting a terrific performance from Jonathon Niese.

As the Mets seem to always do, they got on the board in the first inning. Both Daniel Murphy and Curtis Granderson hit upper deck solo home runs to right to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

The Mets made it 3-0 in the fourth. David Wright doubled, Granderson singled and Wright scored on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Abreu.

Niese was cruising through six but found a bit of trouble in the seventh. Back-to-back singles put runners on first and second with no outs. But he got out of it with a fly out and a double play.

Niese was done after seven scoreless innings, allowing just five hits to go along with six strikeouts and one walk. He lowered his ERA to 1.82, good for fourth in the National League.

Daisuke Matsuzaka come on in the eighth, and he was simply awful. He walked the first two batters and on a 3-2 pitch Giancarlo Stanton hit a rocket back up the middle to drive in one run and put runners on first and third. Casey McGehee hit a liner to short that Omar Quintanilla bungled. It hit off his glove for an error that cut the lead to 3-2. With runners on first and second Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled to tie the score at three. That was all for Dice-K. Kyle Farnsworth came in with runners on second and third with no outs. With the infield in, a grounder to second produced the first out with the runner on third holding. Garrett Jones was intentionally walked to load the bases. Adeiny Hechavarria struck out for the second out. Marcell Ozuna bounced out to Wright to end the inning and keep the game tied.

Scott Rice started the ninth and allowed a single to the only batter he faced, lefty Christian Yelich. Gonzalez Germen came in to face Ed Lucas, who sacrificed Yelich to second. That was a huge favor for the Mets because Stanton was up next. With first base open, the Mets took bat out of his hands and intentionally walked him. McGehee, who has been clutch all season, was next. He hit a hard grounder up the middle. It bounced off of Gonzalez’s leg and into right field. Lucas scored and the game was over.

Mets lose 4-3.