Mets Tie Season High With 17 Hits, Beat Miami 11-5
MIAMI (AP) — Daniel Murphy hit a three-run homer and the New York Mets matched a season high with 17 hits Sunday to beat the slumping Miami Marlins 11-5.
Jonathon Niese (4-4), who has been plagued by poor run support this year, won for the first time since May 22. He allowed less than four earned runs for the 19th consecutive start, giving up three in six innings.
Mets starters have an ERA of 1.74 over the past six games.
Niese drove in a run with a suicide squeeze bunt, but the bulk of the offense came from higher in the order. David Wright drove in a run for the sixth game in a row.
Curtis Granderson thrived again in the leadoff spot, reaching base four consecutive times. He and Lucas Duda each had three hits.
Murphy had two hits, including his sixth homer. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, making his first start since being recalled from Triple-A, doubled twice.
Rookie Anthony DeSclafani (1-2), making his fourth major-league start, gave up seven runs in 3 2-3 innings and departed with a 7.59 ERA.
The Marlins (37-38) fell below .500 for the first time since April 30. Ten days ago they had the best home record in the majors, but they went 3-7 on their longest homestand of the year, losing all three series.
The Mets had scored a total of 13 runs in Niese's previous five starts, but he led 7-0 before giving up three runs in the sixth. The left-hander then struck out Derek Dietrich with the bases loaded to end the inning and his afternoon.
Miami's Giancarlo Stanton, who has an NL-high 58 RBIs, drove in a run with something other than a homer for the first time in a month when he singled home a run in the sixth.
The Mets played small ball to score twice in the second inning. Anthony Recker hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, and Nieuwenhuis scored from third standing up on Niese's sacrifice bunt.
Wright hit a sacrifice fly in the third, and Nieuwenhuis hit an RBI double. Murphy's two-out homer in the fourth chased DeSclafani.
Eric Young Jr. hit a two-run single in the Mets' four-run seventh.
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