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Welcome to the Stro (Marlins at Mets, Game 1; 09.28.21)

Danny Suriel/ALOST

akoiki-passport2 – by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief

NEW YORK — Though it is not in his nature to take it easy while on the mound, New York Mets starting pitcher Marcus Stroman was in the middle of a saunter down the first base line after a sure ground out to third base to end the second inning. What ensued was anything but the ordinary for Stroman, who then proceeded to continue his relentless nature on the mound to close out his first full season as a Met in style.

Stroman stole his first career base in a wild sequence that saw him almost circle the bases, yet had more than enough in the tank afterward to complete five strong innings on the mound as the Mets defeated the Miami Marlins 5-2 in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field.

Francisco Lindor went 2-for-4, including his 19th home run in the sixth inning while both Seth Lugo and Edwin Díaz pitched perfect innings in the sixth and seventh to close the game out.

Holding a 1-0 lead after the Mets scored in the first, Stroman was all set to get back to the mound to begin the third after hitting a routine ground ball to Marlins third baseman Eddy Alvarez with two outs in the second. Alvarez’s throw to first, which beat the meandering Stroman by about 45 feet, was wide of first baseman Lewin Díaz, allowing Stroman to, literally, jog to first base on the error. Not content with just reaching base, Stroman took off for second on the next pitch, stealing second and advancing to third base when Nick Fortes’ throw from catcher went into center field.

Those two Marlins’ errors were more than the mistakes that Stroman made on the mound, as the two-run home run he allowed to Sánchez were the only runs he allowed in five innings, as he won his 10th game of the season. Stroman now goes into his last start of the season, projected for Sunday’s finale in Atlanta, with a chance to lower his season earned run average under three, as he now stands at a 3.02 ERA on the campaign that has been much better than the 14 losses on his ledger would suggest.

New York would score the game-running in the third inning on a Jonathan Villar RBI single and another error by Alvarez on a ground ball hit by Kevin Pillar, allowing Javier Báez to score and give New York at 3-0 lead.

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday afternoon’s contest, with photos taken by ALOST photographer Danny Suriel. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 19 pictures in total.

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