The Mets routed the Marlins for a second straight day, defeating them 9-3 in Miami to assure themselves of remaining in first place as they return home on Monday for a seven-game homestand against the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Here are the key takeaways...
1) Eduardo Escobar’s hot bat led an offensive explosion for a second straight game against the Marlins, as the Mets’ cold bats of late may be warming up.
Escobar’s surge could be a key development as he has put some bite in the lower half of the lineup lately. He was a major disappointment offensively for most of the season but is turning it around in a big way since coming back from a stint on the IL in late August.
The switch-hitting third baseman went 2-for-4 with a home run on Sunday, and he is now 20-for-42 (.476) since Aug. 30, with five home runs in his last nine games.
Perhaps most significantly, Escobar has found his left-handed stroke, which had sent him to the bench at one point against right-handed pitching in favor of Luis Guillorme. Since his return from injury, Escobar is 16-for-30 against right-handed pitching.
The Mets got a three-run home run from Brandon Nimmo to give them a 3-0 lead in the second inning and built on that lead from there. They scored 20 runs against the Marlins the last two days.
2) Taijuan Walker delivered his best start of his otherwise shaky second half, holding the Marlins to one run over seven innings, allowing only five hits while racking up 10 strikeouts against no walks.
Walker attacked the weak-hitting Marlins with a higher percentage of fastballs than he usually throws, especially in the second half, and he commanded it well on the corners to dominate Miami and match his season-high strikeout total. He K’d 10 against the Angels on June 12.
Walker had pitched to a 6.25 ERA in eight starts since the All-Star break, a downturn in performance similar to last season. But with his win on Sunday he is 11-4 with a 3.48 ERA for the season.
3) There was no Brett Baty moment for Mark Vientos as he made his major league debut on Sunday, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and three fly outs. Vientos hit one ball well that went to the warning track in right field.
Baty, of course, hit a home run in Atlanta in his first major-league at-bat in August, and the Mets are hoping Vientos delivers home run power for them. He hit 24 long balls at Triple-A Syracuse this season.
The question now is how often Vientos will get to play. With Starling Marte on the IL, Buck Showalter gave Darin Ruf a start in right field on Sunday, but Ruf is mired in a massive 1-for-34 slump after going 0-for-3 on Sunday, and is hitting just .143 (7-for-49) since the Mets acquired him at the trade deadline.
So Vientos figures to at least DH against left-handed pitching for the immediate future.
4) The Mets are suddenly getting some much-needed offensive production from their catchers. Tomas Nido went 3-for-4 on Sunday and hit his first home run of the season, prompting a silent-treatment reception in the dugout before he was eventually mobbed by teammates.
Nido is now 6-for-12 in his last three games with a home run and three doubles, raising his season average to .235.
Meanwhile, James McCann has also come to life offensively of late. He is 6-for-15 (.400) in his last five games, with two doubles, plus four walks, and has raised his batting average from .185 to .209.
5) Even though he’s on the IL, Max Scherzer was ejected from the game in the first inning for arguing the umpires’ ruling that Nimmo’s leadoff triple was actually a ground-rule double because it lodged at the opening in the bottom of the left-field fence.
Showalter argued the call and convinced the umpires to review the play, but the replay center in New York ruled that the call should stand.
Scherzer, meanwhile, apparently had some choice words for the umpires from his spot in the dugout, earning his second ejection of the season. He wasn’t pitching the first time either, though he was on the active roster.