Kevin Plawecki grounded a tiebreaking, two-run single through a drawn-in infield in the seventh inning, and the Mets beat the Marlins 2-1 Wednesday to stop a four-game losing streak.
Logan Verrett, starting in place of injured pitcher Jacob deGrom, allowed three hits in six shutout innings, and Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins (1-0) combined to escape a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the seventh.
Miami's Adam Conley struck out a career-high nine in six scoreless innings, but Dustin McGowan (0-1) faltered in the bottom half. Wilmer Flores singled, took second on a wild pitch and third on Asdrubal Cabrera's single. McGowan retired Juan Lagares on a comebacker, but Plawecki singled just past the outstretched glove of shortstop Miguel Rojas for his first hit this season.
Pitching for the third straight day, Jeurys Familia got a five-out save. He entered with one on and one out in the eighth, got Giancarlo Stanton to fly out, then gave up a hit to Martin Prado and an RBI single to Justin Bour. Familia retired J.T. Realmuto on a comebacker and pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
New York went 2-4 on its first homestand. En route to last year's NL title, the Mets didn't lose their fourth game until May 15.
Flores made his first major league start at first base for the Mets, who began the day with the worst batting average in the major leagues at .187 and were 29th in runs with 18 in seven games.
Ichiro Suzuki made his first start of the season for Miami and doubled in the fourth for his 2,937th hit.
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New York loaded the bases on three singles in the fourth, but Flores fouled out and Cabrera struck out.
Jim Henderson threw 34 pitches on Tuesday night, his most in the big leagues, and his fastball was 94-96 mph. But his velocity dropped to 89-91 mph Wednesday.
He gave up a leadoff single to Prado in the seventh, then loaded the bases with walks to Bour and Realmuto. Robles relieved and threw a called third strike past Rojas and got pinch-hitter Derek Dietrich to swing at a third strike. The left-handed Blevins came in and fell behind NL batting champion Dee Gordon 3-0 before retiring him on a fly to short left.
OUCH!
Mets LF Yoenis Cespedes kneed a fan while leaping into the stands trying for Suzuki's foul ball that dropped in the eighth. Suzuki flied to left on the next pitch, the 11th of the at-bat, and Cespedes was hit on the left ribs by a pitch from Bryan Morris in the bottom half.
THE LONG RUN
Gordon's 16-pitch plate appearance Tuesday night, which sparked Miami's go-ahead, eighth-inning rally, was the longest in Marlins history, according to STATS. The previous high of 15 was set by Gregg Zaun on Sept. 7, 1998, and matched by Mike Lowell on July 25, 2001.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: deGrom (sore muscle in right side) could be headed to the DL if he is unable to throw a bullpen session when he rejoins the team Friday in Cleveland.
UP NEXT
Marlins: Wei-Yin Chen (0-0) is slated to pitch in Friday's series opener at home against Atlanta.
Mets: Bartolo Colon (0-1) starts Friday's series opener at the Indians.
