Christian Scott roughed up as Mets routed by Marlins to continue brutal stretch
MIAMI — Christian Scott’s second homecoming game of his brief major league career wasn’t nearly as electric as his first.
On a mound about 45 minutes from where he grew up in Coconut Creek, Fla., the Mets rookie dealt with the kind of traffic Friday that is usually reserved for I-95 during rush hour in South Florida.
The Marlins came out swinging and used an early outburst to sting Scott in the Mets’ 8-0 loss at loanDepot park.
All around, the Mets (20-24) scuffled in losing for the sixth time in eight games.
This one came against a Marlins team that began the day with MLB’s worst record. It marked the second time in four games the Mets got shut out.
Scott opened his major league career with a scintillating performance at Tampa Bay two weeks ago, when he allowed only one earned run over 6 ²/₃ innings.
He followed last weekend with an acceptable Citi Field debut against the Braves (three earned runs over six innings). On this night a long ball buried him.
Nick Fortes smashed a three-run homer in the second inning as part of a wild ride in which Scott had nine runners on base against him in a three-inning stretch.
But Scott minimized the damage, allowing four earned runs on seven hits over four innings with three strikeouts and one walk.
“I just don’t think I did a good job executing in the [strike] zone,” Scott said. “Learn from it and come back tomorrow and try to get better.”
The Mets’ bats didn’t provide a reprieve. Jesus Luzardo dominated, striking out seven with five hits allowed over six shutout innings before the Marlins’ bullpen handled the rest.
Brandon Nimmo was absent from the lineup for a second straight game with a stomach bug, further crippling a lineup that has lacked pop for maddening stretches.
The Mets did not have an extra-base hit on this night and were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
“It comes down to how good Luzardo was — he was on,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He didn’t get off to a good start in his season, but today was one of those where the fastball was playing and his secondary pitches … he was aggressive and he was on today.”
The night could have been much worse for Scott, who escaped a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the fourth to keep the Mets in the game trailing by four runs.
After Jeff McNeil booted Otto Lopez’s grounder for an error, Vidal Brujan singled and Fortes walked to load the bases.
Scott responded by striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. before retiring Bryan De La Cruz and Josh Bell to leave the bases loaded.
“[Scott] is not going to give up,” Mendoza said. “He’s a guy that is going to compete and continue to give his best. He did that today, even when he’s not [pitching] well and it’s a battle for him, and to get out of that bases-loaded jam says a lot about who he is. On a night he didn’t have it he continued to compete.”
Fortes’ three-run homer in the second was the Marlins’ big hit against Scott.
After Jesus Sanchez and Nick Gordon both singled in the inning and Lopez’s sacrifice fly brought in the game’s first run, Fortes jumped on a sweeper and cleared the left-field fence, burying the Mets in a 4-0 hole.
“I thought [Scott] got away from his fastball in that second inning,” Mendoza said.
Josh Walker surrendered two runs in the sixth, extending the Marlins’ lead to 6-0. Walker’s wild pitch brought in the first run before De La Cruz hit a sacrifice fly.
Brujan walked to begin the rally and Fortes singled.
Grant Hartwig allowed two additional runs in the eighth on three hits and a walk.
