Baseball is a roller coaster. Seasons are roller coasters, where even the best teams have losing streaks, even the best hitters slump, and vice versa. This game was exactly that, with the Mets slowly bleeding away an early lead, only for MJ Melendez to hit a towering home run in the 10th inning to walk off the Marlins. It is a game that will hopefully be featured on 2026 Mets Classics in a “this is one of the wins that helped get the Mets back into the playoffs” type of way, and not in a “2018 José
Bautista hits a walk off grand slam for the 77-85 Mets” type of way.
The Mets started off hot behind Freddy Peralta, getting to Max Meyer early. A.J. Ewing snuck a ground ball past a draw in infield with the bases loaded and one away in the first inning, plating two. After Ewing stole second, Brett Baty added a single of his own to make it 4-0.
The Marlins started their comeback in the third, when Xavier Edwards hit an RBI triple over the head of Ewing in center field. Mark Vientos got the run back in the bottom of the frame, absolutely walloping a slider 445 ft., making it 5-1. The two teams traded runs again in the fourth, with Jakob Marksee dunking a Peralta changeup into left field, and hustling an RBI double out of it. The Mets scored their run in the frame with a throwing error by Joe Mack on a Luis Torrens sacrifice bunt, as the catcher was trying to move Marcus Semien over after a leadoff double.
The middle of the game was (mostly) all Marlins. Peralta, who was not helped out by his defense, was chased in the fifth inning after Otto Lopez drove in a run due to an ugly Vientos error at first base, and Kyle Stowers drove him home with a double down the right field line. A.J. Minter came in to clean up the inning and did just that, and got two outs in the sixth inning on top of it. Huascar Brazoban came in to relieve Minter and did well until the seventh, when a walk, a Liam Hick ground ball double that beat the shift down the third base line, and a sacrifice fly turned it into a 6-5 game. Brooks Raley got a king sized out after the sacrifice fly to end the threat with the lead intact.
The bottom of the seventh was retroactively incredibly important; in all honestly, they lose this game without it, and this recap is much more morose than matter-of-factly. Bo Bichette walked with one out. Juan Soto singled to make it first and third, and a pinch hitting M.J. Melendez sacrifice flew Bichette home to make it 7-5. The importance of that insurance run showed up immediately, as Tobias Myers served up a two run home run in the eighth to tie it at seven.
The bottom of the eighth and the entirety of the ninth went by scoreless, as we were sent to extras with a score of 7-7 (hence, the importance of that sacrifice fly). Austin Warren came in for Luke Weaver, who pitched well in the ninth, for the tenth and was great, getting out of the Rob Manfred-enforced jam to keep the score tied going into the bottom of the tenth.
Juan Soto, leading off the tenth, popped out on the first pitch, but M.J. Melendez hit a towering home run to push the Mets record to 24-33 on the season.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
FanGraphs.com" />
Big Mets winner: M.J. Melendez, +34% WPA
Big Mets loser: Tobias Myers, -27% WPA
Mets pitchers: -3% WPA
Mets hitters: +53% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: M.J. Melendez’s walk off home run, +30.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Owen Cassie’s two run home in in the eighth, -32% WPA
