Starling Marte received the start against Tampa Bay right-hander Taj Bradley on Friday night, and he ended up being the catalyst for the Mets’ offense.
After reaching in the second, Marte stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, and he lined a single right back through the box off Bradley — bringing in New York’s first run of the game.
An inning later, he came through again, this time delivering a two-out, two-run bases-loaded single to put them in front for the first time.
After the Rays retook the lead, Marte had another opportunity to deliver with two on and one out, but righty Edwin Uceta won an eight-pitch battle and struck him out with a changeup out of the zone to end the threat.
He drew a walk in the bottom of the ninth, but was stranded in scoring position.
Overall, Marte reached base four times on the night with three knocks and a walk while driving in a season-high three runs, but the rest of the team was unable to follow suit — finishing an ugly 2-for-16 with RISP.
“He put together really good at-bats,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Against tough right-handed pitching, he hit three bullets — Uceta got him in the second-and-third situation in the eighth, but that was a really good at-bat to working the count to 3-2. I feel like offensively, he’s in a really good place right now.”
Marte certainly has put himself in a good spot after his rough start to the season.
Finally settling into his new part-time role with the club, the 36-year-old slugger is hitting .323 with two homers, three doubles, eight RBI, and a .391 on-base percentage since the beginning of May.
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