Walker wheels and deals, K's 9 in Mets' win

NEW YORK -- Dominant is the best word to describe Taijuan Walker's outing Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. The right-hander allowed two hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out nine batters and helped the Mets edge the Marlins, 3-2.

It was an unseasonably cool 68 degrees on the June afternoon with a strong wind in the area. In fact, Mets manager Buck Showalter said the wind reminded him of being in Candlestick Park, the former home of the Giants.

“It is June, right? I had hand warmers,” Showalter said.

But the wind didn’t seem to affect Walker, except for when his hat tried to leave his head a couple times during the game. Walker started the game by allowing an infield single to Jon Berti. After that, Walker dealt and retired the next 18 hitters he faced to tie a personal best.

“I was trying to go out there and get strike one,” Walker said. “Just get ahead in counts, try to put them away early.”

Walker had every pitch at his disposal, and the Marlins had to honor all four of them -- curveball, slider, split and fastball. His fastball had life, and he had command of it. Put those things together and Walker was tough to face.

“He looked like he was pretty much getting ahead in the count,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I thought he kept the ball down. He's always had that good slider and his split. Seemed like everything he was able to do, he was … able to throw strikes, get ahead in the count, and that's always going to put you on the defensive.”

Walker has recorded 19 strikeouts in his past two starts. He credits an increase in his slider usage to secure strikeouts with that success.

“It’s just another pitch for [my opponents] to see,” Walker said. “So I’m going away from the righties, and the Marlins had a lot of righties in the lineup. So we got more swings and misses on it.”

The next runner to reach base occurred in the seventh when Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off with a walk. Chisholm managed to advance to third base. Walker was one strike away from completing the seventh inning, but his slider was up and he allowed an RBI double to Avisaíl García to make it a 3-1 game.

The Mets gave Walker runs to work with against left-hander Braxton Garrett early. Jeff McNeil singled to right field to drive home Mark Canha in the second inning. An inning later, Garrett was still on the mound when Francisco Lindor crushed a two-run homer to make it a 3-0 game. It was his second multi-run homer in the past two games.

“I was trying to hit the ball where it was pitched. I got a good swing on it. It felt good,” Lindor said.

The Mets (44-23) are now 21 games over .500. But don’t think Showalter is comfortable because his club has a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL East race.

“I look at seasons in monthly increments," Showalter said. "I look at a month in which our schedule falls. I put some things that we need to reach. … We have four teams playing in our division. We have to figure out a way to be better than those four teams. It’s as simple as that.

“That’s going to be a big challenge. We will focus on that. We were able to win two games against a team in our division that is capable of winning all four games here.”