Luis Severino pitched a four-hitter for his second career shutout, and the New York Mets received home runs from Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso in a 4-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.
After losing his previous three starts, Severino (8-6) was dominant against the last-place Marlins on a rainy day at Citi Field. He struck out eight and walked one, marking the first shutout by a Mets starter since Jacob deGrom’s shutout against Washington in April 2021.
“It was amazing,” Severino said. “That was really fun to go out and compete for this fan base.”
Severino’s only other complete game in the majors was a five-hit shutout for the New York Yankees at Houston in May 2018.
In the ninth inning, Severino hit Jake Burger with his first pitch, prompting a visit from manager Carlos Mendoza. After a discussion on the mound, Mendoza decided to keep Severino in the game, which was met with loud cheers from the 34,744 fans.
Severino retired the next three batters and ended the game with a strikeout of Derek Hill, using his 113th pitch — the most by a Mets pitcher this season. “Special feeling,” Mendoza said. “The crowd was behind him. Special day.”
Mendoza had worked with Severino for five seasons as a Yankees coach and has known him since he was a teenager.
“I’m proud of him because it hasn’t been easy,” Mendoza said. “I knew he was staring at me, and I know that once he stares at me like that, he wants one more. It was an easy decision for me.”
Severino threw three pitches in the third inning and four in the sixth, becoming the first pitcher in at least 25 years with two innings that lasted four pitches or fewer.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I feel healthy. I haven’t felt like that in a little bit.”
New York won two games in a row for only the second time this month and stayed one game behind Atlanta for the final National League wild card spot.
Lindor hit a leadoff home run on the seventh pitch from Miami starter Max Meyer (3-3), sending the ball to right-center. This was Lindor’s second leadoff homer this year and the 20th of his career. Alonso also homered to start the second inning.
The Mets scored in each of the first four innings, which is the first time they’ve done that since May 1995 against San Francisco.
With his 100th home run at Citi Field, Alonso joined Darryl Strawberry and Mike Piazza as the only Mets with 100 or more homers at home.
Brandon Nimmo hit a triple in the third inning and scored when Jesse Winker, on his 31st birthday, got a two-out RBI single. Lindor walked with two outs in the fourth inning and scored on Mark Vientos’ double.
Severino got some help when the Marlins made an unusual double play in the third inning.
“They practiced that before BP,” Severino joked about his infielders. Miami has lost six of its last eight games.
Meyer gave up four runs and six hits in four innings. He has a 7.99 ERA in 23 1/3 innings since being recalled from the minors on July 27.
“He’s still developing,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “This is really his first full year at this level so he’s still trying to figure some stuff out as well.”
