credits Marlins for beating him Capuano

The pitch that ultimately made Chris Capuano the losing pitcher in the Mets 4-1 loss Monday night had been located right where the southpaw wanted it.

Facing Florida’s Mike Stanton with two men on and two out in a scoreless game in the fourth inning, Capuano threw a first-pitch changeup down and away, making Stanton reach for the pitch across the plate.

When Stanton connected, he pulled the ball into the left-center gap, scoring both runners and giving the Marlins a 2-0 lead at the time and the only runs the team would need Monday night.

"I tip my hat," Capuano said of the at-bat.

Just like that at-bat, Capuano applauded the Marlins for scoring the runs they needed against him in a start in which he felt he had good enough stuff to keep the Marlins off the scoreboard. Instead, despite even having no real qualms about his performance, Capuano ended up with the loss after allowing four runs in a season-high 7 2/3 innings Monday as he fell to 8-9.

"They did a pretty good job hitting the ball because I was pretty much putting the ball where I wanted to," Capuano said.

After retiring 11 of the first 12 batters, Capuano’s night turned for the worse with two outs in the fourth. After getting ahead 1-2 on Hanley Ramirez, he gave up a single to right field that marked the Marlins’ first hit of the game. A five-pitch walk to Gaby Sanchez followed before Stanton drove in the two runs.

"He got some balls up. A very good at-bat by Hanley, a single to right," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "As always, the two out base on balls can hurt."

Capuano, who has now lost back-to-back starts, said he wished he could have back his at-bat against Mike Cameron in the fourth that gave the Marlins a 3-0 lead.

With Stanton on second following the double, Capuano kept trying to get a fastball by Cameron, but left one over the inside part of the plate and Cameron singled to left to boost the Marlins' lead. The other run Capuano yielded came in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Logan Morrison.

While Capuano's mistakes were few and far between and he pitched effectively for the most part, with the Mets offense doing little at the plate, his effort ultimately resulted in a loss on Monday.

"I felt like I had pretty good stuff and we had a good gameplan there," Capuano said. "The fourth inning within a span of not very many pitches they put three runs up on the board pretty quick, so it can happen that quick.”

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