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Jorge Cantu’s walkoff single off Darren O’Day in the bottom of the ninth scored the speedy Emilio Bonifacio to lift the Florida Marlins over the New York Mets 5-4 Friday night.
The Mets got a strong start from John Maine, but he couldn’t get help from his bullpen or offense as the Mets stranded 14 runners on base.
Maine struck out the first two batters he faced before losing his no-hitter in the opening inning when Hanley Ramirez blasted a shot over the center field wall. That gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead and advanced our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,486 New York Mets games without a no-hitter.
Maine gave up just two hits in five innings of work, but both were solo homers. He walked one and struck out five.
Relievers Sean Green and Bobby Parnell were a little more generous with the hits. Each got tagged for a run and three hits in an their single innings of work.
Carlos Beltran got the Mets on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth with a solo homer to left, but the Marlins extended their lead to 3-1 in the bottom half with a Jorge Cantu single. The Mets fought back to tie the game in the seventh on a bases-loaded ground-out by Beltran and a sacrifice fly by Fernando Tatis, but Ramirez singled home the go-ahead run in the bottom half.
After J.J. Putz pitched a strong eighth inning to keep the Mets within one, Jeremy Reed lined a two-out fastball to right in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 4.
Pedro Feliciano pitched well and got two outs in the bottom of the ninth but took the loss by giving up an infield single that put the winning run on base. Sidearmer Darren O’Day gave up a walk and single to end the game and hand the Mets their second straight loss after opening the season 2-0.
