 in the 11th, and Brigham hit Amed Rosario with a 97 mph fastball. A wild pitch advanced both runners before Todd Frazier was intentionally walked.One out later, Nimmo walked on a 3-1 pitch to force in the winning run. He sprinted to first base, where he was greeted by teammates and doused. Pete Alonso ripped off Nimmo's jersey, leaving him soaked in a blue undershirt.Paul Sewald (1-1), the seventh Mets pitcher, struck out two in a perfect inning for his first major league win in his 118th appearance. New York's bullpen permitted one hit in six scoreless innings.Miami prospect Isan Diaz homered early and hit an RBI single off Noah Syndergaard, who gave up 10 hits for the second consecutive start. Leadoff batter Jon Berti had three hits, an RBI and four of the Marlins' six stolen bases - four against Syndergaard.Miami was 6 for 6 until catcher Wilson Ramos, who didn't start, threw out Harold Ramirez trying to swipe second for the final out of the 10th.Tomas Nido was behind the plate for Syndergaard, who expressed to the Mets his preference of pitching to backups Nido or Rene Rivera rather than Ramos. The big right-hander lasted five innings and allowed four runs for the fourth outing in a row. He hasn't gone six innings in any of them.New York was 40-51 and all but forgotten after dropping its first game following the All-Star break. But the Mets made a surprising push and closed within two games of a wild card by finishing a four-game sweep of Arizona on Sept. 12. They're 82-75, their third winning season in five years following a six-year drought.They were three back last Wednesday, but now they have no margin for error left at all.Sandy Alcantara carried a shutout into the seventh for Miami before the Mets finally woke up a quiet crowd of 21,766. J. D. Davis hit a leadoff double and Conforto drove an 0-2 mistake to right-center to cut it to 4-2.Conforto went 3 for 4 in his sixth career multihomer game and second this season - both against Miami.Diaz became the first rookie to homer off Syndergaard and Mets ace Jacob deGrom in the same season.TRAINER'S ROOMMets: 2B Robinson Cano returned to the lineup. He received a scheduled rest Monday night, one day after getting hit by a pitch on his left big toe. ... RHP Robert Gsellman (lat) would probably like to throw more live batting practice, manager Mickey Callaway said, and LF Dominic Smith (foot) could take swings against Gsellman again. But there's no guarantee the team would activate either one of them off the injured list before the season ends.UP NEXTMarlins: Rookie right-hander Robert Dugger (0-3, 4.45 ERA) makes his seventh major league start Wednesday night at Citi Field, still looking for his first career win.Mets: Bidding for a second straight NL Cy Young Award, deGrom (10-8, 2.51 ERA) makes his final scheduled start this season. The right-hander entered Tuesday leading the league in strikeouts with 248 and WHIP at 0.99. He ranked second in ERA and fourth in innings (197). And he's been finishing strong in September, with consecutive outings of seven scoreless innings the last two times out. He has pitched seven innings in seven straight starts and 11 of his past 12.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Marlins look to finish off Mets' playoff hopesFLMThe New York Mets have experienced no shortage of miracles during their 58-season existence. But if they're going to win a wild-card spot this year, they will need some divine intervention that far surpasses anything bestowed upon the 1969, 1973 or 1986 teams.The Mets will try to do their part to avoid elimination from contention Tuesday night, when they host the Miami Marlins in the second game of a four-game series.Noah Syndergaard (10-8, 4.22 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for the Mets against the Marlins' Sandy Alcantara (5-14, 4.00 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.The Marlins delivered a big blow to the Mets' already meager wild-card hopes Monday night, when Jorge Alfaro hit two homers, including a grand slam, in Miami's 8-4 victory.The Mets (81-75) fell five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the race for the National League's second wild card and 5 1/2 games back of the first wild-card spot, currently held by the Washington Nationals. New York has six games left in the regular season.Elimination for the Mets could come as early as Tuesday if they lose, the Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds and the Nationals earn at least a split of a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies.In other words, if the Mets make it to the NL wild-card game next week, it will be the most stunning accomplishment in team history.That would be no small feat, considering that: the team won the 1969 World Series after posting losing records of each of its seven previous seasons of existence; the 1973 squad went from last place in late August to the seventh game of the World Series; and the 1986 club was one strike away from elimination 16 times in Game 6 of the World Series before beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games."Our backs are against the wall," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. "I think this team has performed pretty well when their backs are against the wall. So we need to step it up, we need to make another run at it." The rebuilding Marlins (55-101) are hoping to gain valuable experience while opposing contenders in the final days of the season. Seven of Miami's starters on Monday night began the season with two or fewer years of service major league time."It's good for us to end the year -- we play the Nationals, these guys and the Phillies, so you're playing teams, at least, that are in the hunt and need to win games, no matter what the situation is," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "So we talk about just making sure we're playing hard and doing our part." Syndergaard didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start, when he allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings as the Mets beat the Colorado Rockies 7-4 in Denver on Wednedsay.Alcantara took a loss that same day, when he gave up five runs (four earned) over 5 2/3 innings as the Marlins fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4.Syndergaard is 7-1 with a 1.83 ERA in 10 career starts against the Marlins, including 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts this year. Alcantara is 2-3 with a 2.82 ERA in seven starts against the Mets, including 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA in four outings this year.Both pitchers have recorded shutouts against the Tuesday opponent. Syndergaard tossed his five-hitter in a 1-0 win last Sept. 30, while Alcantara dominated with a two-hitter in a 3-0 victory May 19.--Field Level Media
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