OVER TIME: Shaun Marcum can’t bear to watch as the Marlins celebrate after dealing the Mets a 4-3 loss in 15 innings last night. (AP)
MIAMI — Now that was ugly.
But memorable and ugly sure beats just another night at the ballpark when baseball is set back a century or so. Nick Green’s towering fly to left was deep enough in the 15th inning at Marlins Park, and Lucas Duda’s throw home had no chance.
Green’s sacrifice fly scored the winning run off Shaun Marcum, sending the Mets to their fifth straight loss, 4-3 to the Marlins.
“It’s pretty draining and none of us [is] happy right now,” Matt Harvey said, roughly four hours after his sixth-inning departure from the game.
Ruben Tejada had put the Mets ahead with an RBI single in the top of the 15th before Marcum, in his second inning of work after every reliever in manager Terry Collins’ bullpen had been used, allowed two runs to end it.
If the game went another inning, Collins said he planned to use backup catcher Anthony Recker on the mound.
Rob Brantly’s RBI single tied the game in the 15th before Green won it with a fly to left. Greg Dobbs started the rally with a one-out single before Justin Ruggiano walked. The fact none of the balls was hit particularly hard irked Marcum, who volunteered for duty when it became evident the Mets would run out of pitchers.
“I’d rather make mistakes and get hit all over the place,” Marcum said. “It’s frustrating when you make good pitches and they find holes and get base hits.”
The Mets finished a putrid 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position on a night David Wright didn’t start because of a stiff neck. Wright made a pinch-hitting appearance in the 13th inning and struck out.
“I played through it [Sunday], so pinch-hitting is not going to kill me,” Wright said. “All of us know how important wins are. It’s only April, but we need to get this thing going in the right direction.”
The game was the Mets’ longest since April 17, 2010, when they beat the Cardinals 2-1 in 20 innings at Busch Stadium.
The Marlins suffered a potentially huge blow when Giancarlo Stanton left the game with a strained right hamstring after trying to beat out a grounder in the 10th inning.
Bobby Parnell blew his second save in four opportunities this season by allowing a run in the ninth on Green’s sacrifice fly. Ruggiano’s leadoff double and Brantly’s ensuing bloop single had put the tying and winning run on base for the Marlins.
Harvey threw a career-high 121 pitches over 5 1/3 innings in which he allowed one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Collins tried to get Harvey through six, but that plan unraveled when Dobbs walked with one out and Ruggiano singled. But Robert Carson and Scott Atchison each retired a batter to conclude the inning before LaTroy Hawkins and Brandon Lyon went an inning apiece before Parnell’s arrival.
“My fastball was going over the middle a little bit too much tonight and I wasn’t able to locate like I wanted to,” Harvey said. “We’re going to flush today’s loss and move forward.”
Harvey was attempting to become the first Mets pitcher since Pedro Martinez (2006) to finish 5-0 in April, but that possibility evaporated with the run allowed by Parnell in the ninth.
John Buck marked his homecoming to South Florida with a two-run homer against Jose Fernandez in the fourth that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead. Buck, who played for the Marlins in 2011 and ’12, was dealt to Toronto as part of the Jose Reyes trade last offseason before the Blue Jays shipped him to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey deal.
Buck’s blast was his ninth of the month, tying him with Dave Kingman (1976) and Carlos Delgado (2006) for the most homers by a Mets player in April.
The rookie Fernandez lasted only four innings, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The 20-year-old righty faced the Mets earlier this month at Citi Field, receiving a no-decision after allowing one run over five innings.
The Marlins took a 1-0 lead against Harvey in the third when Stanton hit into a double play with runners on the corners, but the tradeoff was worth it to the Mets. Juan Pierre and Donovan Solano had singled in succession to start the inning.
Harvey also had a trying second inning, allowing singles to Brantly and Green before Fernandez whiffed to end the inning. Harvey also struck out Dobbs and Ruggiano in the inning, helping inflate his pitch count to 46 as the frame concluded.