Mets aim to ride offensive surge into opener vs. Marlins

The Miami Marlins don't know how their pitching will line up for Thursday night's game against the New York Mets.

Whomever takes the mound will have a task as tall as it is simple: Slowing the hottest offense in the game.

The Mets will look to continue surging when they host the Marlins in the opener of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.

Right-hander Clay Holmes (11-6, 3.60 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Mets.

The Marlins have yet to announce a starter. Janson Junk, who pitched Saturday, was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday due to right ulnar nerve irritation.

The Mets on Wednesday capped a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 6-0 win. The Marlins fell to the visiting Atlanta Braves 12-1 in the decisive contest of a three-game series.

Mark Vientos went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBIs for the Mets, who dramatically bolstered their playoff hopes with the offensive-minded sweep. New York cut the Phillies' NL East lead to four games while moving 4 1/2 games ahead of Cincinnati in the race for the league's last wild-card berth after the Reds were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game set.

The Mets outscored the Phillies 25-8 while hitting a robust .568 (21-for-37) with runners in scoring position. New York leads the majors with 111 runs since Aug. 10, a span in which it has gone 9-7.

The Mets scored just 81 runs while going 8-12 in their first 20 games following the All-Star Break.

"There's a lot to like, and we've got a lot of guys clicking right now," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "I feel like throughout the whole year, we haven't been able to put consistent at-bats as a whole. One guy gets going, two guys cooled off. Right now, we're seeing guys clicking at the same time."

Inconsistency has been an issue for the Marlins, who haven't maintained the momentum they built from June 13 through Aug 3, a stretch in which they went 30-14.

Miami, which climbed to .500 at 55-55 by completing a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees on Aug. 3, has lost seven straight series dating to Aug. 4. The Marlins have gone 7-16 in that span to fall 10 games behind the Mets.

The Marlins had just four hits in a 2-1 win over the Braves on Monday before being outscored 23-3 in the final two games of the series. Infielder Javier Sanoja mopped up in both losses.

"It's a good New York offense," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "And when you face good offenses, you have to throw the ball over the plate, you have to work to gain count leverage so (that) you have the ability to expand when you want to. And I expect us to flush this one quickly and move into the weekend series in New York and go out and do just that."

In his most recent outing, Holmes earned the win over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday after allowing two runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings in a 9-2 victory. He is 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA and one save in 11 career games (two starts) against the Marlins.

--Field Level Media