Luis Severino faced a make-or-break moment in the sixth.
He walked Otto Lopez on four pitches to put runners at first and second with two outs in the sixth. The Mets led 1-0. He had thrown 86 pitches. Carlos Mendoza came to the mound. Decision time. José Buttó was warming.
Mendoza let Severino pitch to Nick Gordon and he fell behind 2-0, burying the second ball in the dirt for a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third. But he came back to strike out Gordon, continuing what has been a comeback season, winning his team-high seventh game in a 1-0 decision Saturday over the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park.
Jul 20, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino (40) throws against the Miami Marlins in the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports
Severino (7-3) fanned seven in his six scoreless innings, giving up two hits and three walks while lowering his ERA to 3.58. He also made a nifty defensive play on a comebacker, leaping and backhanding the ball before throwing to second for a force out. (It was smooth, but hard to imagine anything will ever top the smoothest play ever made by a Mets pitcher in Miami.)
The Mets (50-47) struck first, scoring the only run of the game when Francisco Alvarez drove in Pete Alonso with an RBI ground out in the fourth.
Roddery Muñoz was nearly as effective as Severino, tossing five innings of one-run ball and punching out five. He caught a couple of breaks, with Jeff McNeil lining out to first to end the fourth with two men on and J.D. Martinez lining out to third and into an inning-ending double play with two on to end the fifth. Francisco Lindor was caught off second with no chance to get back.
Muñoz, oddly, has handled the Mets, but no one else in his last seven starts. He threw six scoreless innings against New York on June 13 at Citi Field. In five starts between then and Saturday, he had a 6.40 ERA covering 25 1/3 innings.
Buttó hurled a scoreless seventh, striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz back-to-back with a runner in scoring position to end the inning. Dedniel Núñez worked a scoreless eighth, striking out Gordon with two on to end another Miami threat. The Marlins (34-64) left 10 on base and were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Edwin Díaz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout to earn his 11th save in 16 chances.
The Mets won despite going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They have gone 1-for-14 with RISP in two games since the All-Star break.
With his six innings Saturday, Severino is up to 115 2/3, the most he’s pitched in a season since he tossed 191 1/3 innings in 2018 when he went 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA and made the American League All-Star team.
Still looking for his first career win, Florida native Christian Scott (0-2, 4.36 ERA) makes his ninth start against lefty Trevor Rogers (1-9, 4.72 ERA). The 1:40 p.m. ET game will be broadcast on WPIX.
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