Marlins Look To Bounce Back Against Red-Hot Mets
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – The Miami Marlins were two outs away from winning their sixth game in a row on Monday.
The New York Mets had other plans.
The Mets own the best record in baseball and are off to their best start since 1986.
Daniel Murphy is finally contributing.
After hitting a clutch game-winning homer, Murphy will try to help the Mets to another victory over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.
Murphy hasn't done much to spur New York's 15-5 record, but that's starting to change after driving in five runs with a homer and two doubles in the last two games, boosting his season average 29 points to .174.
"I'm just focusing on the at-bat at hand," Murphy said. "No matter what I do, I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and be hitting .290, so one at-bat at a time is all I can control."
That mentality seemed to work Monday, when the second baseman connected for a go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning of a 3-1 win in the opener of this three-game series in Miami.
"Murf-a-licious," manager Terry Collins said of Murphy, who has nine of his 14 RBIs over the past five games.
The Mets have won 13 of 16 against the Marlins (8-12), including all five meetings this season. They haven't put together a longer winning streak in the series since taking seven in a row Aug. 9-Sept. 23, 2012.
Center fielder Juan Lagares is batting .404 in his last 13 games against Miami, going 8 for 19 this year after collecting a double and a single while scoring on Murphy's homer Monday.
The Mets will recall Rafael Montero (0-1, 4.15 ERA) from Triple-A Las Vegas to make a spot start in order to give the rotation an extra day of rest. Collins is planning to limit ace Matt Harvey and 41-year-old Bartolo Colon to 30 starts apiece.
Montero made four relief appearances before being sent to the minors April 17. The right-hander was 1-3 with a 3.98 ERA in eight starts as a rookie last year.
Both of his previous meetings with the Marlins came out of the bullpen, as he yielded one unearned run in 1 2-3 innings.
Miami had six singles Monday after hitting .324 with 32 runs while winning the previous five games.
Dee Gordon is 10 for 17 over the past four, and he has a .441 average in his last eight meetings with the Mets. The second baseman is 8 for 13 over the past three matchups after getting two hits in the series opener.
The Marlins are giving David Phelps (1-0, 3.55) a third turn in the rotation with Henderson Alvarez on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation.
Phelps' first start was a 4-1 loss to the Mets on April 17, yielding one run and one hit with three walks in 4 2-3 innings. He was even better at Philadelphia on Thursday, tossing seven scoreless innings and allowing three hits in a 9-1 victory.
"He's a guy that has to hit his spots," manager Mike Redmond said. "Put the ball on the corners, and he was able to do that. When he missed, he missed away from contact."
Phelps hasn't done that in two home games, giving up four runs with two walks in one inning of relief.
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