Tides turning? Offense wakes up in series finale victory

NEW YORK -- Entering Sunday’s action, the Marlins were last in the Major Leagues in runs scored. However, the tide seemed to turn in the afternoon series finale at Citi Field -- the offense scored a season high and powered Miami to a 7-2 win over the Mets.

“Everyone likes to overreact to certain stats, certain everything,” designated hitter Garrett Cooper said. “There is always an outcry over a team that is not hitting to start the year. … I’m not going to panic because I know how baseball works. You go through hot and cold stretches.”

For left fielder Bryan De La Cruz, he hopes Sunday is the start of a hot stretch. He had his best game of the season, going 2-for-2 with two walks and four RBIs. Three of those four runs came in during the first inning off Carlos Carrasco. De La Cruz swung at an 0-2 slider and deposited the ball into the lower left-field stands for his first home run of the season, giving Miami a 3-0 lead. While the ball traveled only 388 feet, the exit velocity registered at 108.7 mph.

“I’m feeling better, I’m just getting back to my rhythm,” De La Cruz said through interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I've been getting in more games, more at-bats, getting that trust. Everything is coming back little by little.”

He even saved two runs in the fourth inning, flashing some impressive leather. With runners on second and third with two outs, Tim Locastro hit a blooper to left field, but De La Cruz made a nice sliding catch to end the inning.

Sunday’s game, he predicts, is the start of good things to come -- even if he wouldn’t say how many runs he plans to drive in by season’s end.

“The season I will have will be something that will surprise many,” he said. “I believe in myself. I believe in God. I’m going to keep working hard. No specific stats, but amazing. That’s true. That’s going to happen.”

Cooper, the other big contributor, continues to hammer pitchers to begin the year. He went 2-for-5 on Sunday, including a loud two-run homer off of Carrasco in the top of the fifth. He’s now slashing .324/.361/.676 in his first nine games, with all three of his homers coming against the Mets.

“In baseball, there are a lot of ups and downs,” Cooper said. “Working in the offseason and staying back on a lot of pitches has paid dividends so far early on in the year. Just to see some balls get down early shows I’ve made the right decision on pitches I want to hit.”

Center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. also was productive at the plate, going 2-for-4 and recording two of the team's five stolen bases. However, it was his ejection in the seventh inning that will be best remembered from this game. He thought he had walked on a 3-2 count, but home plate umpire Jeff Nelson called him out on strikes as Chisholm flipped his bat, preparing to take his base. Chisholm disagreed with the call and was ejected from the game.

“What more can I say about it? I probably said what I needed to say while I was on the field,” Chisholm said. “I feel the most frustrating part is that he feels like [I was showing him up] when it was something I was doing from Day 1 in my career.”

Nelson was not available after the game. Manager Skip Schumaker was not happy to see Chisholm get ejected.

“Stay in the game, let me get kicked out, let one of the coaches argue for you,” Schumaker told Chisholm. “It was the heat of the moment type of stuff. I understand there are a lot of emotions going on. For us, we need our players to stay in the game. If he gets kicked out, it could impact the game.”

After playing seven of the first 10 games against the Mets, the Marlins head to Philadelphia for a three-game set vs. the Phillies, with optimistic eyes towards the future.

“The Mets have had a little bit of our number the last few years,” Cooper said. “To come out here and salvage a win and move on to Philly, another division opponent, it’s big for us moving forward.”