With the 13th-best record in the National League, the Mets are in no position to expect easy games against anyone, especially after giving one away in ugly fashion to league-worst Miami the previous night.
The Mets were the team to take advantage of their opponent’s poor defensive play on Wednesday, however, in a 10-4 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field.
Harrison Bader, Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor homered — and Tyrone Taylor rapped four hits — as the Mets won for the fifth time in seven games, with Edwin Diaz slated to be activated from the injured list for Thursday’s series finale.
In his third start since returning May 29 from offseason hip surgery, David Peterson allowed four runs on eight hits with two walks and one strikeout over five innings (84 pitches) before Dedniel Nunez replaced him with a 6-4 lead to start the sixth.
Peterson (2-0) has completed at least five innings in each of his three outings.
With Brandon Nimmo receiving a day off against Marlins lefty Braxton Garrett, manager Carlos Mendoza moved Bader to the No. 2 slot in the lineup for the first time this season.
Bader belted a 1-2 pitch for a two-run homer to left-center in the home first, but the Marlins recouped those runs with four hits against Peterson in the top of the second, including two-out RBI knocks by Dane Myers and Emmanuel Rivera.
Following Tuesday’s loss, Mendoza had lamented how untimely errors continued to haunt his team, with sloppy play leading directly to a couple of Miami runs.
The Mets’ 44 errors represented the fourth-most in MLB to begin the day, but multiple miscues by the Marlins resulted in three runs (one earned) for the Mets in the second inning to grab a 5-2 lead.
Miami entered the game with 46 errors on the season, behind only Boston across the majors.
Mark Vientos and Jeff McNeil reached on infield errors to aid the three-run outburst, which also featured RBI singles by Francisco Alvarez and J.D. Martinez.
Otto Lopez and Bryan De La Cruz reached Peterson for consecutive one-out doubles in the fifth for the Marlins’ third run.
After Jake Burger battled the lefty for a 12-pitch walk later in the inning, Jazz Chisolm made it a 5-4 game with a two-out single left.
Mendoza stuck with Peterson, however, when Tim Anderson grounded out to McNeil at second to end the inning with the one-run lead intact.
Marte got back one of those runs for the Mets (29-37) in the sixth with his seventh homer of the season, a two-out solo shot to left to chase Garrett.
Taylor followed with his third hit of the night, a double to right-center off reliever JT Chargois, and Vientos walked before Alvarez skied to right to end the inning.
Still, Vientos’ bases-loaded single to right and a run-scoring infield out by Alvarez against reliever Declan Cronin made it 8-4 through seven.
Lindor added his 11th blast of the season one inning later.
Nunez, who struck out five in 2 ¹/₃ innings, Jake Diekman and Reed Garrett combined to record the final 12 outs for the Mets.