Christian Scott, Mets dismissed by Marlins in a hurry
Christian Scott #45 of the Mets pitches against the Miami Marlins during the first inning of the game at loanDepot park on May 17, 2024 in Miami. Credit: Getty Images/Megan Briggs
MIAMI — At a stage of his career when virtually everything is new, Christian Scott encountered — endured — another novel experience Friday night: his first bad start.
The Mets lost to the Marlins, 8-0, after the starting pitchers set the tone at the outset.
Scott gave up four runs in four innings. Miami lefthander Jesus Luzardo, his South Florida contemporary, dominated for six scoreless frames.
“[Scott] wasn’t at his best,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
And neither were the Mets (20-24). Their total no-show made for a horrendous opener of a theoretically easier series fresh off their dismal Atlanta-Philadelphia slate.
Scott was not as sharp as he had been in his first two major-league starts, but his outing was similar to a bunch of others he’s had this year, especially in the minors, in that he was just fine outside of one particular inning. This time, though, that one inning was very damaging.
The Marlins (14-32) put up a four-spot in the bottom of the second. The big blow: a two-out, three-run home run by Nick Fortes, a light-hitting catcher. Scott left a slower, sweeping slider up in the strike zone and Fortes banged it over the leftfield wall.
“Bad pitch,” Scott said.
The fundamental problem: Scott didn’t have a good feel for his fastball, his best pitch, he said. That threw everything else out of whack. Mendoza noted that he got “slider-happy” in that second-inning sequence; three of four hits came on sliders.
“He got away from his fastball,” Mendoza said. “The fastball didn’t have the hop that it usually has.”
Facing the top of the Miami order with the bases loaded and nobody out, Scott escaped without allowing a run in the fourth.
Luzardo never let the Mets get close. They mounted an almost-rally in the fifth, when they had runners at the corners with one out, but Luzardo escaped by striking out Tomas Nido and Tyrone Taylor on a combined seven pitches.
“It comes down to how good Luzardo was today,” Mendoza said. “He was on.”
The game was a big to-do in the South Florida baseball world. The 24-year-old Scott (Coconut Creek) and the 26-year-old Luzardo (Parkland) grew up in nearby neighboring towns, and the rotations aligned for a faceoff between the two former amateur standouts from a region full of them.
Scott’s father, Doug, estimated that several hundred relatives, friends and others came to watch his son. Among them: Bruce Charlebois, who runs the South Florida Baseball School and who has known and coached Scott and Luzardo since they were in elementary school.
“It’s epic,” Charlebois, decked out in neutral baseball gear and sitting in the second row behind the home dugout, said before the game. “Really epic.”
For Scott, it wasn’t the homecoming he imagined, but it was a personal milestone nonetheless.
“A lot of people made sacrifices for me to be in this position,” he said. “So for them to be able to come out and see me throw here was awesome.”
Luzardo said: “He’s a great kid. He’s going to be really good.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
