The Marlins showed up in Queens looking nothing like the team that stumbled through a franchise-worst 12-game losing streak just two weeks ago. Miami snapped that skid with a walk-off win over Philadelphia, then rode the momentum to a full sweep of the Phillies, its first since 2019, according to MLB.com.
Across town, the Mets are playing out the string under interim manager Andy Green, who took over after the club fired Carlos Mendoza in late June. New York has actually played well since the change — a 14-3 blowout of Atlanta last week showed the offense can still do damage without Soto in the middle of it.
Both starters came in trending the right way — McLean fanned 7 Dodgers in his last outing, and Pérez has been keeping the ball in the park for a Marlins staff trying to hold a rotation together — which made a tighter, lower-scoring night feel like the more likely outcome even before first pitch.
It ended up being exactly that kind of game — a tight, low-scoring fight that swung late — the sort of night that's a reminder these two clubs, whatever their records say, aren't easy outs for anybody right now.