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Mathis, Marlins down Mets

Sep 16, 2014 - 4:59 AM Flushing, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Jeff Mathis drove in the go-ahead run during the eighth inning as the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Mets, 6-5, in the opener of a three-game set on Monday.

Jordany Valdespin and Adeiny Hechavarria both scored and drove in a pair of runs for the Marlins, who have won their last two games.

"I'm happy about the way we came back and battled," said Mathis.

Sam Dyson (3-1) earned the win after recording one out in the seventh. Starter Jarred Cosart gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts over six innings.

Wilmer Flores hit a two-run double, while Daniel Murphy, Travis d'Arnaud and Curtis Granderson each drove in a run for New York, which has dropped its last three games.

Jacob deGrom got off to a hot start, striking out the first eight Miami batters to set a franchise record and tie the modern-era MLB mark set by former Houston pitcher Jim Deshaies, who did it in 1986 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cosart broke the streak with a single to right.

"I had a good fastball early on," said DeGrom. "I was locating it pretty well."

DeGrom finished with a career-high 13 strikeouts, but the rookie cooled off down the stretch to allow three runs on six hits with one walk across seven frames.

Trailing 5-3, the Marlins went ahead with three runs in the eighth. Casey McGehee, Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour all singled off Jeurys Familia (2-5) to load the bases. Hechavarria's liner into right drove in two runs to tie the game and Mathis' soft liner to right off Jenrry Mejia made it a 6-5 game.

Steve Cishek retired the Mets in order to nail down his 36th save of the season.

The Mets wasted no time getting on the board after Flores drove in two runs with a double to left.

Bour singled to lead off the seventh for Miami, Hechavarria followed with a double and Valdespin brought them both home with a single to left. Valdespin moved up to second on the throw and advanced to third on Mathis' sacrifice bunt before racing home on Reed Johnson's sac fly.

New York regained the lead in the home half. Murphy's RBI single off Mike Dunn tied the game and d'Arnaud greeted A.J. Ramos with a run-scoring double to left for the lead.

Lucas Duda and Flores both walked to load the bases and Ramos walked his third straight batter to usher in another run for a 5-3 game.

Game Notes

Valdespin's two-run single ended deGrom's stretch of innings without an earned run at 28 ... Pete Falcone previously held New York's record of strikeouts to start a game with six on May 1, 1980 against Philadelphia ... Mickey Welch struck out nine straight batters to open a game for the New York Gothams in 1884 before the modern era of baseball ... Miami went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and had 11 hits ... Ozuna extended his hitting streak to 13 games.