The New York Mets (4-1) played a rain-delayed matinee against the Philadelphia Phillies (1-4) at Citi Field and won by a score of 4-2.

Pitching

Noah Syndergaard started the game for New York. He was great in his first inning of work, striking out two along the way with just 13 pitches. His second and third innings were far less efficient.

In the third inning, Syndergaard gave up a single to Cesar Hernandez and double to Carlos Santana. He subsequently gave up an RBI groundout to Nick Williams and walked Rhys Hoskins.

With first and third, two-out, Hoskins took off but stopped halfway between first and second. He started running back to first base but the Mets botched the rundown once Santana started streaking towards home. Hoskins may have been out of the baseline but regardless, the Mets should have done a better job. The Phillies tied the game there.

Syndergaard’s final line today was four innings pitched, two runs allowed, two walks, and seven strikeouts. It took him 92 pitches to get through his outing.

Robert Gsellman came in for the Mets and continued to look like a dominant reliever. Gsellman has faced 13 batters this season and struck out seven of them. Gsellman has an unsustainable strikeout rate as a reliever but nonetheless, his stuff looks so much better this year than it did last year.

Hansel Robles pitched the seventh inning and threw a 1-2-3 inning with three strikeouts.

AJ Ramos pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout of Carlos Santana. He looked much sharper than last night’s tightrope walk.

Jeurys Familia gave up a bloop single to Rhys Hoskins to begin the ninth but got a double-play from Aaron Alther right after that. He picked up his third save in his third chance.

The Mets bullpen retired all, but one hitter they faced. The bullpen looks great to begin 2018.

Offense

Yoenis Cespedes got the Mets offense going early with a two-run home run in the first inning. Unfortunately for them, Aaron Nola got his game going and dominated the Mets the other four innings he pitched.

Fortunately for them, Gabe Kapler pulled Nola in the sixth inning which the Mets took advantage of as Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a walk. With two outs, Wilmer Flores drew a walk himself to set the table for Amed Rosario. Rosario tripled over the head of Nick Williams, who was playing very shallow. Rosario’s speed from home-to-third was 11.27 seconds, breaking his own record for the Mets’ fastest triple since the Statcast era.

Brandon Nimmo got on base twice at the leadoff spot. He keeps getting on-base, but might be heading to the bench soon with Michael Conforto‘s return seemingly imminent.

On Deck

Jacob deGrom and the Mets head to Washington to take on Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals. This is the Nationals home opener and the game will start at 1:05 p.m. The game airs on SNY and can be heard on 710 WOR.