The Mets lost the longest game in Citi Field history Saturday, a 2-1, 20-inning marathon affair to the Marlins. But that paled in comparison to potentially losing the Franchise: Matt Harvey was forced out of the game with lower back tightness after seven great innings.
Harvey was long gone by the time Shaun Marcum (0-7) took the loss in relief. After tossing seven scoreless innings, an outing better than any of his starts this season, he seemed to tire in his eighth frame.
He allowed three straight hits, Placido Polanco’s one-out single to right, catcher Rob Brantly’s single to left-center and Adeiny Hechavarria’s single to center that plated Polanco.
Center fielder Juan Lagares — who drove in the Mets’ only run of the day with a double a lifetime ago in the second inning — threw out Brantly at third to limit the damage. But the way the Mets’ bats had gone to sleep, one run was insurmountable.
The Mets finished 0-for-19 with men in scoring position and stranded
22 men on base.
Steve Cishek set the side down in order in the 20th, ending the endless contest in 6:25. Kevin Slowey (2-5) got the win to make the Marlins 4-0 against the Mets since May 21 and 0-12 against the rest of baseball.
Still, as galling as that was, it was far less important than any possible injury to Harvey. The right-hander came out for warmup pitches before the eighth inning. He was being visited by Terry Collins and a trainer on the mound and got pulled from the game. The 24-year-old ace walked off the mound to applause from 20,338 at Citi Field, sitting down in the dugout and motioning towards his back. The final line on Harvey: seven innings pitched, six hits, one earned run, no walks, six strikeouts and one giant, ominous question mark.
Brandon Lyon, Bobby Parnell, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Rice, Greg Burke and David Aardsma — promoted today from Triple-A Las Vegas — combined for five scoreless innings of relief. Starting pitcher Shaun Marcum — whose last turn had been skipped his last turn — was pressed into duty in the 13th.
Consecutive rainouts had pushed Harvey’s start back to today, meaning his next scheduled start would come Friday. If Harvey is forced to miss time, it remains to be seen if prized pitching prospect Zack Wheeler could be in play to make his debut that day.
Harvey was matched up against another of baseball’s best young arms, Miami’s 20-year-old rookie Jose Fernandez, who held the Mets to just three hits in six strong innings, giving him a 1.69 ERA in four career starts vs. the Mets.
Harvey was just as good, allowing just Chris Coghlan’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly.