Injuries stretch Marlins thin defensively

NEW YORK -- Despite losing twice in walk-off fashion to the Phillies earlier in the week, the Marlins felt good about how they’ve played this month. Following a 7-19 May, they entered Friday’s series opener in New York with a 9-6 record in June.

No better time for the Marlins to face the National League's best in the Mets for the first time this season. Except Pablo López was chased during a seven-run sixth inning and Miami’s bats couldn't solve Carlos Carrasco in the 10-4 loss at Citi Field.

With Jesús Aguilar and Jesús Sánchez landing on the injured list for undisclosed reasons, a shorthanded Miami ballclub recalled rookie Jerar Encarnacion and Lewin Díaz, who didn't arrive until after batting practice. Bryan De La Cruz, optioned during Spring Training only to make the Opening Day roster as a reserve, started in center field and Willians Astudillo, a non-roster invitee, served as the designated hitter.

“Today was a frustrating day,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Obviously we come off the off-day, we've been playing pretty good. We know we're coming here against the Mets, and to lose two starters out of your lineup from the very beginning -- and then we're scrambling to try to put a lineup together. It's a little frustrating.

“But it's something that everybody deals with. Other teams have had to do it, too. We're not immune. It's just one of those things, it's disappointing the way the game started. We get behind the eight ball right away. Felt like we were kind of swimming upstream from the very beginning of that game, three hitters in we're down 3-0. But you've got to overcome all that and keep going.”

That’s because the ball quickly found De La Cruz, who was making his 34th career start in center. In the first inning with the leadoff runner on, he dropped a knuckleball-esque liner from former Marlin Starling Marte. Francisco Lindor followed with a three-run homer to straightaway center.

Marte, whom Miami dealt to the A's prior to last year's Trade Deadline for Jesús Luzardo, signed a four-year, $78 million with the Mets rather than rejoining the Marlins over the winter. While Miami wanted him as its center fielder, the Mets have deployed him in right. Sánchez has been adequate in center (-2 defensive runs saved) and struggled at the plate since a strong April (.839 vs. .591 OPS).

Following his miscue, De La Cruz somewhat made up for it with a leadoff homer in the fifth, the only blemish against Carrasco until a pair of inherited runs scored in the seventh.

“I was happy for the home run, but personally I wasn't that happy because we were still down and the team didn't get over that deficit,” De La Cruz said via an interpreter. “I was waiting for a high pitch, so I was just expecting something high, and I was just ready waiting for it.”

De La Cruz also was involved in the game-changing play of the seven-run sixth. It looked as though the Marlins had turned an improbable triple play off the bat of Luis Guillorme, but the ball bounced off the left-center-field wall before De La Cruz bobbled it twice and snatched it with his bare hand. Instead of an inning-ending gem, López had to regroup with the bases loaded and no outs.

J.D. Davis produced an RBI single, then López struck out Tomás Nido. That would be López’s final hitter with the lineup turning over for the fourth time. The Mets would go on to rattle off six two-out runs against Tommy Nance via a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a Pete Alonso grand slam. Miami hit a season-high four batters in the opener of a four-game series.

What has made the Mets so good this season is their clutch stats: They have the second-highest average (.281) and the most RBIs (103) in the Majors with runners in scoring position and two outs. The Marlins aren’t too far behind (.238 -- 14th, 85 RBIs -- 12th).

“Obviously a tough lineup, and there's no easy outs,” said López, who was pitching for the first time since sustaining a right wrist contusion the previous Friday. “You don't get a lot of time to take pitches off or anything. I wouldn't say tentative. It's a lineup that you want to attack, attack, attack, and sometimes by attacking, you try to be too fine. You might get away from just attacking with your fastball, and you try to pick spots, pick corners.”