Credit: Frank Becerra Jr., USA TODAY

Chris Bassitt continues to get it done on the mound for the Mets after playing a staring role in a memorable home opener on Saturday.

On a picture-perfect day at Citi Field, a day where the majestic statue of the great Tom Seaver was finally unveiled, Bassitt continued where he left off from his first start in a Mets uniform.

As Gary Cohen so eloquently put it, it was an iconic day for an iconic player and, in keeping with that, Bassitt delivered a performance that Tom Terrific would have been proud of.

Granted, his second start wasn’t exactly always plain sailing as the righty gave up a double to Ketel Marte before walking David Peralta after opening the first inning by striking out Daulton Varsho.

Bassitt bounced back with a strikeout of Christian Walker and then forcing Pavin Smith to pop out to Francisco Lindor, and he flew though an effortless second inning before a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play helped him to escape the fourth without incurring any damage after Geraldo Perdomo was hit by a pitch to reach first.

It continued to be easy work for the veteran in the fifth as he struck out Seth Beer for starters, before dealing the same fate to Perdomo after walking Jose Herrera.

In fact, the only black mark against Bassitt came in the sixth inning as Varsho smacked a solo home run to get Arizona on the board. However, in a clear sign of the starter’s early dominance as a Met, it was the first run he had allowed in over 10 innings of work.

Not bad at all.

And that was the only slice of joy the Diamondbacks got as Bassitt got through the rest of the inning, including racking up another strikeout with his filthy curveball that proved to be a deadly weapon throughout the afternoon.

As was the case in his first start, the righty relied on all six of his pitches in his arsenal but, this time, he leaned on his cutter, going to that particular pitch 35% of the time, while his sinker was his second-most used pitch at 23%.

You could see exactly why Bassitt kept using his filthy cutter given that it tore through the Diamondbacks lineup time and time again, touching 89.9 mph with a 36% whiff rate. Part of Bassitt’s brilliance is his ability to roll through all six pitches effectively but, as we saw on Saturday, his cutter has the ability to really cause some damage.

Forget about being a jack of all trades and a master of none, Bassitt is truly a master of all his pitches.

He finished his day and his second Mets start with 98 pitches thrown in six solid innings, allowing one earned run on two hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

In total, Bassitt has struck out 14 and given up just one run in 12 innings.

As a result, not only does Bassitt boast a stellar 0.75 ERA and a 0.67 WHIP through his first two starts as a Met, but he also became just the fourth pitcher since 1901 to have 14-plus strikeouts, three or fewer walks, one run or less, and five hits or fewer in his first two combined starts.

For the record, the others were Joe Musgrove (San Diego Padres, 2021), Matt Shoemaker (Toronto Blue Jays, 2019) and Colin McHugh (Houston Astros, 2014).

When you combine stats like that with the eye test, there is no getting away from just how good Bassitt has been through his first two starts as a Met, helping the rotation pitch to a stellar 1.32 ERA through eight games in the absence of ace Jacob deGrom.

And, with the bats getting hot and providing plenty of support early on, Bassitt feels that the Mets have shown what they are capable of.

“We had a lot of good at-bats, a lot of good guys hitting really well,” Bassitt said. “(Starling) Marte was unbelievable, (Francisco) Lindor was unbelievable, so it was a good read of what this team can be for a lot of games this year.”

There’s plenty to be positive about if you are a New York Mets fan right now, and Bassitt’s first two starts on the mound are certainly one of them. He guts it out and gets the job done, and he’s going to be a vital high-end piece of that rotation throughout 2022.