Despite 'messy' game, Marlins stay clutch late

Burger crushes second walk-off hit with Miami; Garrett shines in latest quality start

September 20th, 2023

MIAMI -- With 10 games remaining in the regular season and a playoff berth at stake, the Marlins will take wins however they can get them.

In the Marlins’ 4-3 walk-off victory over the Mets at loanDepot park on Tuesday night, Miami played without Luis Arraez (left ankle sprain), committed two errors, had a runner thrown out at third and a closer blow a save. Despite all of that, Jake Burger lined a two-out RBI single for his second walk-off hit as a Marlin.

  • Games remaining: vs. NYM (1), vs. MIL (3), at NYM (3), at PIT (3)
  • Standings update: The Marlins (79-73) remained a half-game back from the Cubs (79-72) for the third National League Wild Card, with the Reds (79-74) a full game back of Chicago. Miami tied the season series (3-3) with Cincinnati, but the Marlins (25-23 against the NL East) hold the second tiebreaker -- intradivisional record -- over the Reds (19-27 against the NL Central). Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago, having taken four of six in the season series.

“All wins aren't pretty, and I think that was not our cleanest game I've ever seen in my life,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Baserunning, defensively -- just wasn't real clean. But when you can win those games, you feel pretty good about it, because it was a little bit messy."

Here are four moments that decided Miami’s win:

Garrett works out of a first-inning jam
Left-hander Braxton Garrett allowed one unearned run over six innings, marking his MLB-leading 16th start holding his opponent to one earned run or fewer, but his outing could have turned sour early.

Two batters in, the Mets had runners on second and third, with Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor due up. Garrett struck out Alonso and got Lindor to send a grounder to shortstop Garrett Hampson, who snagged it on the short hop and threw home for the out with the infield drawn in. Garrett ended the inning by getting Francisco Alvarez to ground out.

Garrett has gone from the odd man out in the Opening Day rotation to the club’s most reliable starter amid a playoff push, posting a 2.10 ERA in his past 10 starts -- the second-lowest mark during that span, behind NL Cy Young Award hopeful Blake Snell.

“I think about it,” said Garrett, who hasn’t pitched in games with playoff implications since attending Florence High School in Alabama. “Like I said last time: We're in a race here, and I feel the nerves before these games. I feel like I should pitch good for the team. And again, I think that's a really good thing, and I've handled it pretty well.”

Nardi puts out the fire
With the Marlins leading 3-1 in the seventh, the Mets loaded the bases with two outs against southpaw A.J. Puk. Schumaker inserted lefty Andrew Nardi, who leads MLB in inherited runners stranded rate (89.7%). Nardi induced an inning-ending groundout from Ronny Mauricio, then worked a perfect eighth.

“He's got a new haircut -- that new Arraez haircut,” said Schumaker, alluding to Nardi going from his natural curls to braids. “I'm not a huge fan of that part of the game, but he's been awesome with the bases loaded and getting guys out of big jams. That was a big, big moment in the game. If he does that, he can wear his hair however he wants.”

Hampson flashes the leather again
New York had a chance to take the lead against closer Tanner Scott when Mauricio sent a pitch up the middle, but Hampson ranged behind the bag into shallow center and threw to first in time for the final out. 

“First of all, I didn't know if I was going to get there,” said Hampson, who played shortstop in high school, college and the early part of his professional career. “I think it hit off the mound and kind of gave me some time to get over there. And then, in the back of your head, you don't want to have that trail guy come and score. So it was kind of just, ‘Let's see what happens,’ and I felt like I had some time and just barely beat him.”

Burger comes through clutch
With runners at second and third and two outs, the Mets pitched to Burger with first base open and Bryan De La Cruz, who had missed the previous three games with right ankle discomfort, on deck.

Burger fouled the first pitch from righty Trevor Gott just out of the reach of Alvarez. Two pitches later, Burger singled to center.

“I just get in that box and just try and calm myself down in those situations,” Burger said. “It gets really easy to get outside of yourself. We're fortunate to pick up Tanner, because he's been picking us up all year. Obviously, [we] couldn't pick him up last night, but we could tonight. Once that foul ball fell down, I felt a big sigh of relief, because right when I hit it, I'm like, ‘I don't know if that's going to get out or not.’ And fortunately, it fell. So [I] got another opportunity.”