Bour homers off Harvey; Marlins escape Mets
NEW YORK -- Matt Harvey's arm certainly isn't dead, but the right-hander may be in a bit of a slump. Harvey was throwing in the upper 90s after dealing with a bout of "dead arm" following his last start, and he struck out 11 over eight innings Friday night. But one bad pitch to Justin Bour was enough to hand Harvey his second straight loss as the Marlins topped the Mets, 4-3, at Citi Field.
"He made a couple mistakes and we weren't able to give him much support," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Other than that, he threw the ball fine."
Video: MIA@NYM: Harvey strikes out 11 over eight innings
The red-hot Bour drilled a three-run homer inside the foul pole in the fourth inning off Harvey, and Miami starter Dan Haren held the lead to earn his fifth win. Haren, who tops out in the upper 80s, outdueled the hard-throwing Harvey by scattering four hits over seven innings. Miami snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in its previous five tries at Citi Field.
"He doesn't throw real hard, but he locates well and he mixes well," the Mets' Lucas Duda said of Haren. "He did a great job keeping us off balance the whole night."
Solo home runs from Duda and Curtis Granderson provided the first two Mets runs before New York pieced together a rally against Marlins closer A.J. Ramos that fell just short. Daniel Murphy's bloop double scored Ruben Tejada to get the Mets within a run before Ramos retired Michael Cuddyer and Wilmer Flores with a runner on second to earn his third save since taking over the closer's role a couple of weeks ago.
Video: MIA@NYM: Murphy's RBI double gets Mets within one
"We wouldn't be the Fish if we didn't make it close," Miami manager Dan Jennings said. "It was a nice win. It was good to see the bullpen come in and close out innings and [Ramos] get the save and get us the win."
Video: MIA@NYM: Ramos retires Flores to earn the save
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Bunt single sets up Bour's blast: Harvey was perfect through three innings, striking out six of Miami's first nine. Dee Gordon woke up the offense with a bunt single to lead off the fourth.
Video: MIA@NYM: Gordon leads off inning with bunt single
Martin Prado followed with a walk, and with one out, Bour blasted his three-run homer to right. The drive, projected by Statcast™ to land 355 feet away, was Bour's fourth homer of the season, and second in his last two games.
Video: MIA@NYM: Bour crushes three-run homer to right
Duda goes second deck: If you were watching Giancarlo Stanton in right field, you may have thought Duda's fourth-inning blast was a routine fly ball. Stanton pretended to plant himself under the ball, while in reality, Duda sent it into the second deck of the Pepsi Porch for his ninth homer of the season. The homer was Duda's sixth in his last seven games.
Video: MIA@NYM: Duda crushes solo homer to right field
"He's hot, he's red-hot," Collins said. "Earlier in the week, somebody brought up the fact that he hasn't been hitting homers. When it starts to warm up, he'll hit all the homers we expect him to hit. He's doing that."
Haren stays hot: The home run has hurt Haren all season. The 34-year-old right-hander gave up a pair of solo shots on Friday. Haren has now allowed 10 homers on the season, but in his seven-inning stint, he was able to limit New York to just those homers. In his last three starts, Haren has allowed four runs in 21 innings (1.71 ERA).
Video: MIA@NYM: Haren holds Mets to two runs over seven
Super slide: After leading off the ninth with a single, Tejada scampered into scoring position on a Ramos wild pitch. Tejada used expert maneuvering to get around the tag from Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. He later scored on Murphy's double to inch the Mets closer. But New York's rally fizzled after that.
Video: MIA@NYM: Tejada uses tricky slide to steal second
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
When Gordon swiped second in the fourth inning, it was his 20th stolen base of the season. In 2014, the Marlins' stolen base leader was Christian Yelich, who finished with 21.
QUOTABLE
"It was a great effort to be able to go and get a guy off that [Cubs] roster off the Rule 5 Draft who has been able to come up here and produce the way he has." -- Jennings on Miami nabbing Bour from the Cubs' system in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft at the 2013 Winter Meetings
"It's another way of explaining a bad outing," -- Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, describing "dead arm"
WHAT'S NEXT
Marlins: May has definitely not been Miami's month. Still, Tom Koehler has been a bright spot during a tough stretch. In six games, with five starts, the right-hander has a 2.73 ERA in the month. Koehler takes the mound on Saturday in the middle game of the three-game set against the Mets. First pitch is 4:10 p.m. ET.
Mets: May has definitely not been Jon Niese's month, either. The lefty has lost four of five starts this month, allowing 16 earned runs in 16 innings over his last three. Niese takes the mound as the Mets' pitching staff continues its final turn before adding a sixth man to the mix.
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