The Mets starting rotation has been taking hit after hit, losing manpower throughout the season. Despite this, Rick Porcello had a pretty solid outing against the Nationals, allowing two runs on eight hits over six innings pitched.

Even though the team was unable to close the gap, Porcello’s composure was much improved not allowing any walks in his outing. Porcello threw 64 strikes on 93 pitches, with five strikeouts.

Luis Rojas explained after the game that Porcello “threw a great game, it was a replica of his last outing.” Elaborating more that he threw “good sinkers to lefties and did good holding runners.”

The two runs that Porcello allowed were in the first and second innings respectively, when he was struggling to keep the ball down.

“I was up in the zone a little bit, gave up some hard-hit balls…unfortunately we came up a little short, those two runs early really came back to haunt us.” Porcello explained after the game.

Things really could have spiraled out of control for Porcello in the second inning, as he allowed three hits in the frame. Luckily for Porcello, the Mets made a heads-up defensive play behind him that stopped the bleeding.

With two runners on and two outs, Victor Robles hit a bloop single to left field that scored a run. Robles tried to stretch that single, but Brandon Nimmo gunned him down at second base. If it was not for first baseman Dominic Smith covering second, the Nationals could have had two runners in scoring position for Trea Turner. Turner homered in the first inning and led off the third with a single.

Much of Porcello’s success in Tuesday’s game came along with help from his defense, particularly with Andres Gimenez and Luis Guillorme up the middle. That duo turned three double plays in the game, two of which came with Porcello on the mound.

After giving up a leadoff single in the fifth inning, Porcello induced a rare double play off the bat of the speedy Turner.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a double play turned that quick in the big leagues, I mean they were lightning-fast on that.” Porcello said.

With a sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second, Turner was recorded as the second-fastest player in baseball last season. Yet Guillorme and Gimenez doubled him up twice. Porcello has been aided by those middle infielders in each of his last two starts, and has turned in his best efforts of the season.

“It’s huge, it gives you a lot of confidence to attack the zone, induce contact, induce weak contact. Your not worried about pitching for the swing-and-miss because these guys are gobbling everything up behind you.”

The 31-year-old was satisfied with his performance overall, commenting on his ability to “to get on track and pitch deep into the game.” Despite allowing two runs, Porcello did not crack under pressure and gave the Mets every chance to win. 

Through his first two starts, Porcello only gave the Mets six innings and was sporting a 13.50 ERA. Over his last two starts, Porcello has pitched 13 innings and has cut his ERA down to 5.68. He also has not walked a single batter, whereas he issued six free passes in his first two starts.