Díaz goes deep, but errors costly in G1 loss
Christina De Nicola
@cdenicola13NEW YORK -- Lewin Díaz homered and Daniel Castano was solid in relief, but the Marlins’ skid reached six in a 5-2 loss to the Mets in Game 1 of a seven-inning doubleheader on Tuesday at Citi Field.
Díaz’s fourth-inning shot to the upper deck against Marcus Stroman was the only offense for Miami, whose rookie first baseman has gone deep eight times in 100 Major League at-bats this season. Díaz has been starting on an everyday basis since veteran Jesús Aguilar, who underwent left knee surgery on Monday, landed on the injured list on Sept. 8.
Zach Thompson served as the opener for the Marlins, giving up one run on three hits but stranding a pair of runners in scoring position in the first inning. Thompson, who made 13 starts to begin his Major League career, had been coming out of the bullpen since the onset of September.
Called up as the 29th man, Castano followed by allowing two runs (one earned) in three frames. Shaky defense cost the Marlins with two outs in the third. Right fielder Jesús Sánchez got a bad read on Jonathan Villar's blooper, which fell for an RBI single. Third baseman Eddy Alvarez then committed his second error of the game on a routine grounder, allowing Javier Báez to score.
Steven Okert surrendered a two-run homer to Francisco Lindor in the sixth, extending the Mets’ lead to 5-2.
"I think obviously we make three errors in the first couple innings of the first game," manager Don Mattingly said following the doubleheader sweep. "It's not very good baseball. I think our guys are playing hard, I'm not sure we're thinking very much. Just kind of running and playing and not really focused on playing baseball. I do think our guys were playing hard, I just think that the minds, certain parts of it aren't really locked in.
"This was a day we had too many mistakes," Mattingly continued. "We're just not playing good baseball. It's this time of year? It's who we are? What it is, it's just not good baseball."