McNeil’s Big Night Not Enough in 6-4 Loss To Miami

The Miami Marlins entered the game with an historically horrific winning percentage against left-handed starters. Jeff McNeil started the night ranked 141st out of 142 qualified MLB hitters in OPS.

And so, the Marlins beat up lefty Sean Manaea as McNeil hit two home runs. The end result was a 6-4 Miami victory Friday at loanDepot Park to open the second half. Miami (34-63) is 4-3 vs. the Mets and 4-16 vs. the rest of the National League East.

Manaea (6-4) gave up five earned runs on eight hits and one walk in five innings. He struck out one, matching a season low. Miami took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Xavier Edwards and an Emmanuel Rivera sacrifice fly. The Marlins got two more in the third for a 4-0 lead on a Jake Burger RBI double and a Josh Bell RBI single.

McNeil got New York (49-47) on the board with his sixth homer of the year, a solo shot in the fifth. J.D. Martinez added a sacrifice fly to cut the Miami lead to 4-2. Burger answered with a solo homer off Manaea in the bottom of the frame.

McNeil cut the Mets’ deficit to 5-4 with a two-run shot in the sixth. It was the second multi-homer game of the 32-year-old’s career, with the first coming in 2019 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Marlins got an insurance run in the eighth when Nick Fortes singled in a run off Dedniel Núñez.

The Mets had plenty of chances throughout the night. Pete Alonso grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners in the first. Martinez lined out with two on and two out in the third. Francisco Alvarez flied out with two men on to end the fifth. With second and third and one out in the eighth, Harrison Bader grounded to short against a drawn-in infield and Jose Iglesias was thrown out at home. Francisco Lindor popped out to end the inning.

In all, the Mets were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. Miami was 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

The Marlins were 6-28 vs. lefties this season before facing Manaea, the worst winning percentage against southpaws in MLB (excluding the 2020 Covid-shortened season) since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 3-25 and 20-134 (!) overall.

Stat of the Game

Manaea gave up five earned runs in five innings after surrendering four earned runs over his last four starts (25 innings).

Player of the Game

McNeil was 3-for-4 with two homers (7) and three RBIs. He has an extra-base hit in three consecutive games for the first time this season. He also made a leaping catch at the wall in right and a running catch on a line drive in the gap.

On Deck

Luis Severino (6-3, 3.78 ERA), who gave up five earned runs in 6 2/3 innings when he faced Miami on May 18, faces right-hander Roddery Muñoz (1-4, 5.47 ERA). Game time is 4:10 p.m. and it will air on WPIX and MLB Network.

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