MIAMI -- Because baseball is baseball, the Mets will lose at some point this season. They won't win every game, nor erase every deficit, as they have seemingly done on a nightly basis. They won't cruise to October without facing their share of adversity along the way.
It just doesn't appear that way right now, because the Mets have proven invulnerable to just about everything. They came from behind twice on Tuesday to win their seventh straight game, 8-6 over the Marlins, becoming the first team in franchise history to start a season 9-1 -- and making manager Mickey Callaway one of just four managers in the modern era to start his tenure with at least nine wins in his first 10 games. Battling flu-like symptoms, Yoenis Cespedes grounded a go-ahead, two-run double past third base in the ninth, before Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect bottom of the inning to record his sixth save.
Nine times this season, the Mets have faced a deficit. On eight of those occasions, they erased it. Twenty-three times, Mets opponents have scored at least one run in an inning. Twelve times, the Mets responded with runs of their own the next half-inning.
"It's unbelievable," said infielder Wilmer Flores, whose solo home run off Kyle Barraclough sparked the Mets' game-tying surge in the eighth. "It's like the other team scores a run and then we score two. We all stand together."

Asdrubal Cabrera followed Flores' homer with his second of the night to tie things at 6, then the Mets rallied to put two men on base with one out in the ninth. Sitting 0-for-4 with three strikeouts at that point, Cespedes was mired in a 2-for-23 funk with 14 whiffs dating back to Thursday. Yet Callaway said Cespedes "looked at me like I was nuts" when he asked the outfielder, who has been battling the flu for most of that dry spell, if he wanted a day off.
Instead, Cespedes grounded a double off third baseman Brian Anderson's glove to plate two runs, giving the Mets an 8-6 lead. Minutes later, they passed their 1985 and 2006 predecessors for the best start in franchise history.
"Him not taking the day might've won us the game today," Callaway said.
Added Cespedes: "This team has a lot of good qualities. We've proven that. And every time that we go out and play, we're showing it."

Trailing by three runs early, the Marlins took their first lead on a Justin Bour two-run homer in the fifth inning, then repeated the trick on a two-run Bour homer in the seventh. But the Mets tied things half an inning later on home runs by Flores and Cabrera.
"I feel like we're in every ballgame," said deGrom, who allowed four runs in six innings. "Very impressive. Fun to watch. Fun to be a part of."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Bour snaps homer drought: Home runs tend to come in bunches for Bour. The left-handed-hitting first baseman snapped out of his early-season struggles with a pair of two-run shots. His first came on his 40th at-bat of the season, and his second opposite-field drive gave Miami a short-lived 6-4 lead in the seventh inning. Both came with two outs. It marked Bour's fourth career multi-homer game and first since May 31, 2017, against the Phillies.

Double dip: Since going 0-for-4 on Opening Day, Cabrera has strung together a nine-game hitting streak. That included two solo homers on Tuesday, the second of which soared into the upper deck to tie things at 6 in the eighth. Cabrera went deep in the fourth inning, as well, marking the 22nd time a Met has homered from both sides of the plate. He was also the last to do it, in 2016. More >

QUOTABLE
"When you're hot, you've got to win as many games as you can. I remember in 2015, we won 11 in a row. The beginning of the year felt unbelievable. It feels like that." -- Flores
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Per Elias Sports Bureau, Callaway became the third big league manager since 1900 to win at least nine of his first 10 games at the helm, joining Boston's Joe Morgan, who started 10-0 in 1988, and the Philles' Pat Moran (also 9-1) in 1915. Minutes after Callaway pulled off the feat, Red Sox manager Alex Cora joined him in the exclusive club.

WHAT'S NEXT
Zack Wheeler will return from the Minors to start tonight at 7:10 ET in the Mets' series finale at Marlins Park. Wheeler said he hopes to make "a little statement" as he looks to earn more big league opportunities after pitching his way out of a rotation spot this spring.
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