NEW YORK — The Mets did it again Sunday afternoon, rallying late for a 5-4 win over the Guardians in the first game of their doubleheader.
This time, it was Starling Marte who came up big. His two-run home run off Trevor Stephan in the bottom of the eighth — his first extra-base hit in more than a month — put the Mets back on top after a rare bullpen meltdown.
The Mets have won four consecutive games, all via comebacks, three of those in the late innings.
Adam Ottavino (three runs) and David Robertson (one run) combined to blow a 3-0 lead in the top of the eighth. Jose Ramirez’s two-run blast off Robertson put Cleveland ahead — briefly.
For most of the game, Max Scherzer was the story. He spun his best outing of the season, six scoreless innings with three hits and one walk. He struck out five.
The closest the Guardians came to putting a runner on second base against him was when Josh Bell smacked a line drive off the rightfield wall in the top of the fourth. Starling Marte threw out Bell, who was slow to first base and was trying to stretch it into a double.
Manager Buck Showalter pulled Scherzer after 86 pitches. It wasn’t immediately clear why. Scherzer threw 83 in his previous outing, his return after a month that featured a limited workload due to injuries and his suspension.
Against rookie righthander Tanner Bibee (six innings, two runs), Gary Sanchez served as an unlikely sparkplug in his Mets debut. He singled during a two-out, bottom-of-the-order rally for the Mets’ first run in the fourth, then lofted a sacrifice fly to center for another run in the sixth.
The second game was scheduled for 7:10 p.m., with Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and Shane Bieber set to face off.
