NEW YORK (AP) - Heath Bell kept throwing, hoping he could find the one pitch that would let him escape.
He never did.
Miami's All-Star closer faltered again, walking four batters in the ninth inning and helping the New York Mets rally for a 3-2 win Thursday that sent the Marlins to their fifth straight loss.
``When you in this game for a little while, you got a lot of different ways to lose,' Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said. ``You look at stats and say, `Why we lose the game? What we do wrong?''
After Ricky Nolasco threw seven sharp innings and reliever Randy Choate worked the eighth, Guillen summoned Bell to protect a 2-1 lead.
Pitching for the first time in a week, and standing in a steady drizzle, Bell (0-3) couldn't find the plate. He wound up throwing a whopping 46 pitches.
``I felt really good. I felt that my pitches were there. I felt like I threw the pitches where I wanted for the most part. I think 95 percent of the time, I was right where I needed to be,' Bell said. ``Yeah, I did walk some guys.'
Bell's third blown save in five chances during his first year with the Marlins allowed the Mets to finish off a three-game sweep.
``I believe in him,' Guillen said of Bell.
``I don't know about tomorrow. I don't think he going to pitch tomorrow. He throw more pitches than Nolasco. But, he's the guy right now,' he said. ``He's my closer and I'm not going to change my mind until he changes my mind. We have confidence in him and I think he'll be fine.'
David Wright drew a leadoff walk in the Mets' ninth and one-out passes to Ike Davis and Josh Thole loaded the bases for Justin Turner, who's 3 for 8 as a pinch hitter this year.
Turner drew a bases-loaded walk in a sensational 13-pitch at-bat to tie it. After a forceout at the plate, Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a one-hopper off the right-field wall for a winning single.
Turner fell behind in the count 0-2 and later fouled off seven pitches before his walk made it 2-all.
``That situation, I think it's what every kid dreams about,' Turner said. ``Except that they dream about hitting it out of the park, not drawing a walk.'
``When you're up there for that long, you kind of get that locked-in feeling,' he said. ``I don't know if he's ever thrown that many pitches in an inning in his career.'
The 46 were indeed the most Bell has thrown in a save situation. In five other outings, he's tossed more.
As for the matchup with Turner, ``I thought I'd get him, and then I just pulled on a fastball,' Bell said. ``That pitch, I wish I could have that one back.'
It was the second time this series that the Marlins walked four consecutive batters. Four pitchers combined to do it Tuesday night.
Ramon Ramirez (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and most of the Marlins remained stuck in hitting slumps. Miami scored a total of only six runs during its five-game trip to Washington and Citi Field.
Reyes was hitless in four tries and went 1 for 12 in his first series against his former team. Booed loudly in every at-bat, the fleet leadoff man grounded into a close, inning-ending double play in the eighth with runners at the corners.
Guillen dismissed any notion that Reyes was trying too hard in his return to New York.
``Press? No. He might be a little bit excited,' Guillen said. ``When you have $200 million in the bank, I ain't going to press for nobody. Pressing is when you have seven kids and you making $60 a day. That's pressing.'
Ramirez, the former NL batting champion, also was hitless in four at_bats and is an 0-for-20 rut.
Nolasco allowed one run and five hits in seven innings.
Gaby Sanchez made it 1-all with his first home run of the season, a long drive leading off the Miami third.
Omar Infante hit a leadoff double in the Miami fifth and took third on a bloop single by Giancarlo Stanton - the Marlins had been hitless in their previous 24 at_bats with runners in scoring position. Befitting their recent offensive woes, the Marlins then went ahead without a hit, getting a run when Sanchez bounced into a double play.
Ramirez, Reyes and Stanton all had early fielding problems. Stanton dropped a long fly to right field by Nieuwenhuis leading off the Mets' first for a triple and Ruben Tejada followed with a sacrifice fly.
Wright later grounded a double down the third base line past Ramirez. The converted shortstop tapped his glove when the ball was hit, anticipating a play, but let it get past him. A trainer came from the dugout to check if Ramirez was OK.
In the second, Reyes seemed to nonchalantly chase a soft liner by Davis. The ball glanced off the All-Star shortstop's glove and was ruled a single.
NOTES: The Marlins fell to 2-5 in one-run games. ... Miami C Brett Hayes stole the first base of his career.
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