Mets drop another game to Marlins as Jeurys Familia surrenders late homer

MIAMI -- The Mets and their dangling playoff hopes cannot afford too many more nights like Thursday.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. walloped a go-ahead home run off Jeurys Familia in the eighth inning, the last in a series of unfortunate events that sent the Mets to a 3-2 loss to the Marlins, who took two of three games in the series.

The Mets dropped below .500, to 70-71, and finished their road trip against Miami and Washington at 4-4. In a two-week stretch against those teams — the worst in the NL East — they went 9-5.

"These teams that are not fighting for the playoffs or whatever, they’re focused," Javier Baez said. "They got that feeling that we need to, about not trying so hard. I’m trying to see the ball, slow everything down. That’s the way that we need to be."

With 21 games to play, the Mets’ division deficit: five games behind first-place Atlanta.

And now it gets hard again — or at least harder. Friday marks the start of a homestand against three contending teams: the Yankees, Cardinals and Phillies.

"We’re doing better," Baez said. "We’re playing good baseball right now. We’ll see what happens this next week."

This was an eminently winnable game for the Mets, who led by two runs into the sixth inning. The Marlins (59-81) scratched their first run across against Marcus Stroman in the sixth, on Chisholm’s RBI groundout. They tied it in the seventh with three infield singles and Brad Hand’s throwing error.

Then came the Mets’ biggest missed opportunity of the night. Pete Alonso led off the top of the eighth with a triple

off the rightfield wall — and was stranded there. Baez and J.D. Davis sent ground balls to the left side of the infield, about the only area of the field to which a batted ball would not allow Alonso to score. And Jeff McNeil also grounded out to shortstop, ending the inning.

The Mets have 19 sacrifice flies this season,tied with the Angels for last in the majors.

"You feel pretty good about Baez coming in to hit there, the way he’s swinging the bat tonight and also laying off of pitches," manager Luis Rojas said. "We felt that we were going to drive that run in. It just didn’t happen."

Baez said: "I hit the ball pretty good, pretty hard, but straight down."

Chisholm’s blast won it. After Familia easily retired his first two hitters, he left a 1-and-0 sinker up the zone. Chisholm planted it halfway up the second deck in rightfield, about 402 feet from the plate.

"Jazz is always trying to do something. He seems to have a little flair for the dramatic," Miami manager Don Mattingly said. "I’m not sure I’ve seen a ball go further in this building. That ball was stomped on."

Before the late drama, Baez (2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored, two steals) and Stroman (6 1/3 innings, one run, four hits) were the standouts.

Baez represented the entirety of the Mets’ offense against lefthander Jesus Luzardo, who held them to two runs and two hits in 5 2/3 innings.

In the first, Baez doubled with two outs, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch. In the third, he homered an estimated 438 feet to straightaway centerfield. Rojas replaced Stroman with Hand after Sandy Leon’s chopper toward first base. It became a single when it took an odd hop, eluding Stroman.

"I don’t think they made solid contact all night," said Stroman, who threw 94 pitches. "I do everything in my part to put my team in a position to win. I never want to come out of games. When I’m out of games, that’s not on me."