NEW YORK (AP) - The Miami Marlins couldn’t overcome this four-run deficit.
Tom Koehler struggled through five innings while Dillon Gee shut down the Marlins on three hits, and the New York Mets beat Miami 4-0 Sunday to take two of three.
Koehler (2-2) had been Miami’s most consistent starter, allowing no more than two runs in each of his first four outings while pitching at least six innings in every start. He allowed four runs, five hits, four walks and a hit batter against the Mets, throwing 62 of 109 pitches for strikes.
“I felt fine. Just couldn’t execute,” Koehler said. “I had a lot of deep counts, a lot of situations where there were hitters’ counts.”
Born in Bronx and raised in New Rochelle, he attended Stony Brook before the Marlins drafted him in 2008. He joked about the number of tickets he left for family and friends.
“600,” he said before adding, “No, I only left 10.”
Miami trailed 5-1 Saturday night before winning 7-6 in 10 innings. The Marlins wound up losing four of six on a trip that began in Atlanta, dropping to 11-14. They returned home for nine games against the Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Mets.
“We had plenty of opportunities in Atlanta to win at least two of those games and really should have won two of these games, as well,” manager Mike Redmond said. “We’ve got to execute better offensively. We’ve got to execute better pitching-wise. Really there’s quite a few areas where we can get better. But at the same time, too, we know we’re going to get better and, hopefully, we can start that when we get home.”
Miami never advanced a runner past second base and was shut out for just the second time this season.
Gee (2-1) struck out six in eight innings and worked around four walks. He survived trouble in the seventh, when he pointed at Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s leadoff popup, which fell untouched near the first-base line as neither catcher Anthony Recker nor third baseman David Wright attempted to catch it.
Garrett Jones singled up the middle, but Recker threw to third for a forceout on Derek Dietrich’s nubber in front of the plate and Adeiny Hechavarria grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“He was able to make his pitches when he needed to, to get out of some jams,” Saltalamacchia said. “It just wasn’t our day.”
Carlos Torres pitched a perfect ninth to finish the three-hitter.
New York went ahead in the second when Daniel Murphy walked, Chris Young was hit by a pitch and Lucas Duda looped a ground-rule double down the left-field line that landed about a foot fair and bounced into the seats.
Curtis Granderson walked leading off the three-run fifth and came home when Wright doubled to the base of the left-field wall. After Murphy grounded out, Young had four straight foul balls before sending a hanging slider into the left-field seats on the 11th pitch of his at-bat, the 22nd he saw from Koehler on the afternoon.
“I kind of saw everything he had, and I think the advantage leans a little more toward my way,” Young said.
Despite the result, Redmond sounded pleased with Koehler’s effort.
“I think he gave us everything he had,” the manager said. “It looked like his command was just off today.”
NOTES: The Marlins said the minor league injury rehabilitation assignment of INF Rafael Furcal has been cut short. On the DL since the start of the season because of a hamstring injury, Furcal spent five games with Class A Jupiter and was playing his fourth game with Double-A Jacksonville when he left due to tightness in his quadriceps after getting hurt running from first to third. … Saltalamacchia was given his 2013 World Series ring by Allard Baird, Boston’s vice president of player personnel. … Christian Yelich went 0 for 11 in the series after entering with a 17-game hitting streak. … Hechavarria ranged behind second from shortstop to slide and grab Eric Young Jr.’s fourth-inning grounder, and then threw to first for the inning’s final out. … Miami hosts Atlanta on Tuesday in the start of a three-game series, featuring a Jose Fernandez-Alex Wood rematch. Last Tuesday, Fernandez (3-1) tied his career high with 14 strikeouts in eight innings as the Marlins won 1-0. Wood (2-3) struck out a career-best 11 for the Braves.
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