Mets knock 3 HRs as Thor hammers Marlins

Loney, who made his Mets debut on Tuesday, delivered the decisive blow, a two-run homer off lefty Mike Dunn. Jumping on a first-pitch fastball in the seventh inning, Loney reached a personal milestone with his 100th big league blast. The Marlins went with a left-on-left matchup after starter Tom Koehler walked Wilmer Flores on four pitches and exited with 105 pitches. Just six of Loney's 100 homers have come against southpaws.

The Marlins claimed the early lead on Marcell Ozuna's leadoff home run to left in the second. Ozuna pulled Miami even at 2 in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Only Loney: Needing to find offensive production with starting position players David Wright, Lucas Duda and Travis d'Arnaud on the disabled list, the Mets received a critical burst of it when Loney clobbered a 91-mph Dunn fastball off the facing of Marlins Park's second deck in right field. The home run was Loney's first as a Met and the 100th of his career.

Loney's homer puts Mets ahead

NYM@MIA: Loney belts 100th career home run to right

James Loney goes deep to right field for his 100th career home run, giving the Mets a 4-2 lead in the top of the 7th inning over the Marlins

Koehler exits in 7th: After tying it at 2 in the sixth inning, Koehler came out for the seventh. At 101 pitches through six, manager Don Mattingly was hoping to get another inning or at least a few more outs from his right-hander. But Koehler walked Flores on four pitches, and Dunn followed, yielding the homer to Loney that swung the outcome.

Thor escapes: Syndergaard's most dominant stretch came from the third through sixth innings, when he rebounded from Ozuna's homer to retire nine consecutive Marlins. But his most important pitches may have come in the seventh. After allowing a hit, a walk and three stolen bases to put the tying runs in scoring position, Syndergaard battled Derek Dietrich to a full count before hitting the top of the strike zone with a 90-mph slider. Dietrich swung through it to preserve the Mets' two-run lead.

Syndergaard gets big strikeout

NYM@MIA: Syndergaard fans Dietrich to end the inning

Noah Syndergaard strikes out Derek Dietrich swinging with two runners on in the bottom of the 7th inning, keeping the Mets in front, 4-2

Ozuna cleans up: Even with Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup, manager Don Mattingly went with the hot hand in the cleanup spot. Stanton has anchored the fourth spot a majority of the time when he has been healthy. But Ozuna has been the club's most productive batter the past six weeks. He showed why leading off the second. Ozuna connected on Syndergaard's 99-mph fastball and belted a home run into the Clevelander beyond the wall in left. It was Ozuna's 11th homer of the season. Statcast™ projected the drive at 397 feet, with an exit velocity of 104 mph. In the sixth, Ozuna's sacrifice fly evened the score at 2. Ozuna has now appeared in the fourth spot just eight times this year.

Ozuna's solo homer

MYM@MIA: Ozuna homers to open the scoring

Marcell Ozuna hits a home run to left-center off of Noah Syndergaard to open the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd inning

WHAT'S NEXT
Mets: Baseball's two eldest active players have a chance to square off when 43-year-old Bartolo Colon takes on the Marlins in a 4:10 p.m. ET game on Saturday. Few have more hits off him over the years than 42-year-old Ichiro Suzuki, who is 29-for-106 lifetime off Colon.

Marlins: Justin Nicolino (2-3, 4.50 ERA) draws Saturday's game at Marlins Park. The left-hander is 1-2 (5.24 ERA) at home this year.

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This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Mets knock 3 HRs as Thor hammers Marlins