USA Today Sports/Photo by Anthony Gruppuso
With the scent of Sunday’s winning streak coming to an end still fresh in the Citi Field air, Mets elder statesman Bartolo Colon reached into his bag of tricks to pull off a milestone on Monday.
Pitching 8 innings of shutout ball, Colon captured his 220th career victory surpassing fellow countryman Pedro Martinez to garner sole possession of second place on Major League Baseball’s all time win list for pitchers who hail from the Dominican Republic.
It seems inconceivable that Colon could catch Juan Marichal, who’s 23 in his way of tying the record, but who would have thought that this roly poly right hander would still be mowing them down at the age of 42?
The silent bats that couldn’t save Syndergaard from his only loss of the season, bellowed loudly in the bottom of the first.
David Wright’s Louisville Slugger sent a solo shot to left; Yoenis Cespedes crushed a 411 ft. two run blast to center, then Lucas Duda came home all by his lonesome with a dinger into the right field seats.
The soon to be 43 year old was masterful on the mound using his varied fastball to get out of trouble spots with men in scoring position, incurring the longest outing of a Mets starter this year.
The 8.0 innings were the most by a Mets starter this season, and it was Colon’s second start this year where he did not permit a walk. He had 15 such starts in 2015 to lead the majors.
Colon, who is also pretty crafty at the plate, hooked a sharp shot foul down the left field line – just shy of a potential double.
Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, fresh up from Triple-A, took a beating from Mets batters in the first, an unfortunate outing for the 24 year-old righty, who returned to the bigs after life threatening blood clots almost ended his career last season.
Foltynewicz settled down, but with two on and two out and Cespedes due up, he was pulled for relief, which the Braves received, too little, too late.
Matt Harvey, coming off consecutive wins, will face fellow righty, Matt Wisler who’s gunning for his first win against 2 losses, hoping to repeat his major league debut defeat of the Mets of last June.
Mets Diamond Dust
The Mets have now scored in the first inning in 11 of their last 16 games (20 runs total) and have scored first overall in 15 of their last 18 games. New York is now 14-3 when they score first, including 6-1 at home.
The Mets hit three home runs last night and now have 34 long balls in their last 16 games. They lead the majors in home runs since April 15.
