Owen Caissie collected two RBIs and Jakob Marsee made a pair of impressive catches in center field Friday night for the host Miami Marlins, who edged the New York Mets 2-1 in the opener of a three-game series.
Eury Perez and three relievers combined on a three-hitter for the Marlins, who snapped a three-game losing streak. The Mets have lost three of their last four.
Perez (3-6) allowed two hits — both to Juan Soto, who crushed a 449-foot homer to right-center in the first before singling in the fourth — and walked none while striking out five over 6 1/3 innings. He induced Mark Vientos to hit into a double play following Soto’s single and retired the next seven batters.
Perez benefited from Marsee’s defense in center in the first, when he made a running catch at the wall of Carson Benge’s leadoff blast into the right-center-field gap. In the sixth, Marsee again robbed Benge of extra bases with a leaping catch at the wall in center.
Andrew Nardi set down all three batters he faced and Michael Petersen gave up a two-out single in the eighth to A.J. Ewing, who was then caught stealing. Pete Fairbanks walked Benge with two outs in the ninth before inducing Bo Bichette to fly out to Marsee to close out his sixth save.
Caissie and Esteury Ruiz helped build runs against Mets opener Tobias Myers and bulk reliever Sean Manaea (0-1) in the second and fourth. Ruiz doubled with one out in the second to chase Myers before he stole third and scored on Caissie’s groundout to first.
Ruiz tripled with two outs in the fourth and scored on Caissie’s single.
Joe Mack and Javier Sanoja had the Marlins’ other hits.
Myers gave up one hit and one walk in his first start of the season. Manaea allowed four hits and walked none with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Rookie Jonah Tong made his season debut with three hitless innings of relief.
