A Marlins memory from this day in 2018.
Despite being one of the top perennial pitchers in baseball during his time with the New York Mets, Jacob deGrom has lost eight of his last 14 decisions against the Miami Marlins. Against Miami, deGrom also holds a sub-three ERA for his career.
On this day five years ago, the right-hander was as good as advertised, but the Mets’ bullpen let him down. After being shut out for eight innings, the Marlins scored two runs in the ninth to stun New York, 2-1.
Miami had been held to just five hits as it came to bat in the top of the ninth inning at Citi Field on May 23, 2018. With a 1-0 lead, the Mets turned to closer Jeurys Familia.
Familia was able to get Lewis Brinson to ground out to open the inning, but a single from Martin Prado and a double from Derek Dietrich put the winning run in scoring position. Three pitches later, catcher J.T. Realmuto lined a single to center. The line drive tied the game, but Dietrich was gunned down at the plate by Michael Conforto in center field.
With two outs, Familia walked Justin Bour to put the lefty on and face Starlin Castro. That turned out to be a mistake.
On a 1-2 pitch from Familia, Castro lined one over the head of a leaping Luis Guillorme at third base. Realmuto scored standing up to give Miami its first and only lead of the night. Brad Ziegler induced three groundouts in the bottom of the inning to collect the save.
Realmuto and Brian Anderson each had two hits for Miami in the win. Adam Conley worked a scoreless eighth to pick up his first victory of the season.
In 19 meetings between the teams in 2018, the Marlins went just 7-12. Two of those seven wins for Miami came in its final at-bat. The lone one to meet that criteria at Citi Field came on this day five years ago.