Mets Continue Mastery Of Marlins, With Power From Davis & Dominant Pitching

J.D. Davis was greeted by Jeff McNeil after crossing the plate on his grand slam. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Mets rolled to a 10-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday night at Citi Field to open their four-game series, as they got tremendous pitching from Trevor Williams and J.D. Davis had a big night at the plate. 

This was the Mets' sixth win in eight games against the Marlins this season, with all of those since June 17. More importantly, the Mets (52-31) gained a game on the Atlanta Braves (49-35), who lost to the St. Louis Cardinals (45-40), in the National League East race, increasing their lead to 3 1/2 games.

Williams went seven innings, allowing no runs on two hits and no walks, with seven strikeouts, and he did it with just 83 pitches, 55 of which were strikes. He earned his second win of the season (with a 2-5 record) and lowered his ERA (earned run average) from 4.34 to 3.76.

Davis had five RBI, with four of those coming on a grand slam in the fifth inning. He went three-for-four, as he also had a double and scored in the third and had an RBI single in the fourth. He came within the triple of hitting for the cycle.

Marlins starter Daniel Castano got through the first two innings with ease, as he only yielded a single to Starling Marte in the first.

Davis' double leading off the third got the Mets going, and he came in to score on a double by Brandon Nimmo. Francisco Lindor singled Nimmo home on an infield hit that he beat out at first to make it 2-0 Mets. The throw from Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas went off Lindor's shoe and ricocheted into right field, so Lindor was at second for Pete Alonso, who grounded out to third. Alonso went 0-for-4 in this one, making that 10-0 score all the more remarkable.

In the fourth, with one out, Mark Canha singled on a perfectly-placed dribbler down the third-base line, and then Jeff McNeil also singled. Davis brought Canha in with his RBI single, and then James McCann crushed one to left for a three-run homer to make it 6-0 Mets.

The top of the fifth saw the defensive play of the night as Jesus Sanchez hit a rocket into the right-center field gap that Nimmo caught with a perfect leap into the fence. That got the crowd roaring, and earned a salute from his center field counterpart, Sanchez, as he headed back to the dugout.

The Mets blew it open in the bottom half of the fifth, with Miami reliever Jimmy Yacabonis now in the game. Eduardo Escobar reached on an error by second baseman Joey Wendle with one out, and Canha followed with a single, and McNeil walked to load the bases. Davis then blasted one to left field for the grand slam to make it a 10-0 Mets lead. 

By that point, Williams was cruising, and he retired 12 in a row up until there were two outs in the seventh inning. Jesus Aguilar broke the streak by singling to right field off the second baseman McNeil's glove (the shift was on), and the ball kicked over to Marte, who fired to second to nab Aguilar, who was trying to stretch it into a double. That was the last out of Williams' superb performance.  

KEITH HERNANDEZ WEEKEND: Fans were greeted by Keith Hernandez's number 17 etched into the grass in center field, in honor of this Saturday's number retirement ceremony for one of the leaders of the 1986 World Championship team, first baseman from 1983-89, and current announcer on SNY as part of the beloved trio with Gary Cohen and his old teammate Ron Darling.

Brandon Nimmo standing right behind the number 17 in center field. Photo by Jason Schott.