Flushing, NY (Sports Network) – The Florida Marlins pitchers were dealing on Monday night, as Clay Hensley and four relievers combined on a three-hitter in a 4-1 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field in a make-up game from a May 17 rainout.
Hensley (1-2) worked five scoreless innings, yielding one hit in his first start since June 24 2008, when he was a member of the San Diego Padres. Hensley, who hadn’t pitched since June 1 due to a sprained right shoulder, also fanned three and walked a pair.
Michael Dunn, Edward Mujica, Randy Choate and Leo Nunez combined to finish off the victory Nunez pitched two-thirds of an inning to earn his 27th save of the season.
Mike Stanton ripped an RBI double while Logan Morrison and Mike Cameron had RBI singles for the Marlins, who have won three consecutive games and nine of their past 10.
Chris Capuano (8-9) pitched a solid 7 2/3 frames, giving up four runs on seven hits while fanning five and walking two.
“I think Cappy [Capuano] pitched a good game and kept us in it,” Mets manager Terry Collins said of his starter’s effort. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
The Mets’ lone run came on a bases loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth by Jason Bay. Willie Harris collected a pair of hits and Nick Evans singled for New York, which has lost five of its last six games.
The Marlins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth. With two outs and Hanley Ramirez buried in a 1-2 count, he slapped a single and Gaby Sanchez worked a walk to set things up for Stanton, who came through with a two-run double into the gap in left-center field. Cameron followed with an RBI single to left to extend the Florida lead.
Emilio Bonifacio led off the eighth with a sharp single to right to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. He advanced to second on a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt up the first base line by Omar Infante. Bonifacio then swiped third and scored on a single down the right field line by Morrison.
Harris led off the ninth with a single and Evans walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Choate went to a 2-0 count against Lucas Duda before he was pulled in favor of Nunez. Nunez walked Duda to load the bases and Bay followed by lofting a sacrifice fly to center. Ronny Paulino grounded out to end the game.