Starling Marte has productive return in Mets' laugher vs. Cubs
Brandon Nimmo of the Mets is congratulated by Starling Marte following a home run during the sixth inning of a game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Thursday in Chicago. Credit: Getty Images/Nuccio DiNuzzo
CHICAGO — The Mets’ 8-0 win over the Cubs on Thursday night ended almost as soon as it started, with the visitors jumping out to a one-run lead within minutes and building a four-run advantage within an inning and a half in the series opener at Wrigley Field. The game never felt as close as the scoreboard briefly suggested.
In the middle of the early action was a guy who begrudgingly had seen no action at all recently: Starling Marte. He smoked a single and scored a run in the first inning and smoked another single to drive in a run in the second. His night wasn’t perfect — he bobbled a ball in rightfield and struck out on a changeup well out of the zone — but it was nonetheless a striking return to the field and an immediate return to form after he missed the previous four days because of a minor left groin injury.
Marte despised sitting, he said this week, using some choice words to sort of playfully, sort of not describe his attitude toward being sidelined. He even lobbied to get back into the lineup on Sunday, according to manager Buck Showalter. That was just a day after he exited a game hurt. The ever-cautious Mets held him out of that one plus the entire next series.
No matter. Marte, hitting .293 with an .804 OPS, stayed in All-Star mode anyway.
“It’s not easy,” Showalter said. “He’ll make you shake your head a couple times. Just a reminder what a splendid athlete he is. He’s gifted. He’s almost tweaking me, like, ‘I told you so.’ That’s OK. He can do it again.”
Marte said, with a smile and through an interpreter: “All players do that when they’re confident in themselves.”
Making up for lost time, perhaps, Marte rocketed to rightfield the second pitch he saw from Cubs righthander Keegan Thompson (4 1/3 innings, five runs). When Francisco Lindor followed with a line drive to right-center for a double, Marte galloped all the way from first to score with seeming ease.
The Mets (56-34) had tacked on two more runs, both on Patrick Mazeika’s double, by the time Marte batted again. Marte’s sharp single to center, again on the second pitch, brought in Mazeika.
Hitting coach Eric Chavez called Marte’s performance “pretty miraculous.” The productive return was similar to what he did in May. When his grandmother died and he went on the bereavement list while with family in the Dominican Republic, Marte didn’t play for five days. Upon his return, for a doubleheader in Colorado, he walloped the first pitch he saw for a home run — the start of a 7-for-20, four-run, three-RBIs stretch in four games.
The key? Marte “does the least amount of work of any hitter” behind the scenes, Chavez said, so when he is away, he doesn’t miss much.
“I say that in a good way,” Chavez continued. “His mindset is knowing how good he is. There’s no extra work or overthinking things. And he just keeps it simple. And he’s extremely talented. He told me even when he was struggling, ‘I know I’m coming out of this, and when I do it’s going to be really good.’ When you operate with that kind of confidence, it’s pretty good.”
Mark Leiter Jr., nephew of Al Leiter, handled 3 2/3 innings for the Cubs (34-55), allowing three runs on homers from Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso. Alonso’s 74 RBIs tied David Wright (2006) for most before the All-Star break in Mets history.
The Mets’ pitching pair of Carlos Carrasco (six innings for his 10th win) and Trevor Williams (three innings for his first career save after seven seasons and 146 games) combined for the shutout.
Carrasco scattered five hits and two walks, striking out six. Chicago vaguely threatened to score in second inning, when they had two on and none out, and the fifth, when it was two on with one out, but he induced a double-play grounder in both situations to avoid further trouble.
Heading into the All-Star break, Carrasco has a 4.27 ERA — down from 4.85 just two weeks ago.
“I need to continue to work hard,” he said. “The second half is really important for us. That’s when we start pushing more to get into the playoffs.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
