With just a day’s notice, Gabriel Ynoa was placed onto the mound at Citi Field for his first major league start. Though he did not have much time to prepare for his matchup against the Minnesota Twins, he succeeded.
Ynoa went 4.2 innings while allowing four hits and just one run. He walked one batter on the day but had sat down eight by way of strikes. Ynoa was pulled just one out shy of being able to pick up the win as the Mets defeated the Twins by a score of 3-2.
“I accept the decision,’’ Ynoa said. “The team knows what they’re doing and I’m thankful for the opportunity.’’ (Newsday)
Ynoa became the third Met to make his first major league start this season, joining Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman. His eight strikeouts are tied for the fourth most by a Met in his first career start, trailing Matt Harvey (11 K on 7/26/12), Collin McHugh (9 K on 8/23/12) and Charlie Williams (9 K on 6/11/71).
It is not yet known if Ynoa will see another start with the possibility of Steven Matz returning to the rotation. Ynoa showed on Sunday he is much more comfortable starting a game than coming in as a reliever, something he has not really done in the minors.
The Mets continue to piece together a starting rotation that has exceeded all expectations at this point. The Giants were defeated by the Cardinals Sunday, putting the Mets alone at the top of the Wild Card standings by one game over San Francisco.
