The New York Mets (29-32) shutout the San Francisco Giants (25-35) 7-0 on Wednesday night at Citi Field. (Box Score)
Pitching
Jason Vargas (2-3, 3.57 ERA) got the nod in this one, looking to build off his solid stretch of pitching. The 36-year-old came into the game with a 2.40 ERA in his last six starts and 30 innings pitched. He followed that up by pitching his longest game since June 2, 2017 and his best game in a Mets uniform.
The southpaw pitched a complete game shutout and struck out eight batters on 117 pitches. He also limited the Giants to five hits and one walk.
His day did not get off to the smoothest start as Joe Panik greeted him with a double. However, Vargas retired the next three batters he faced to strand Panik at second.
He started off the second inning by putting on a baserunner via a base on balls. He immediately erased the runner a pitch later by getting Kevin Pillar to ground into a double play. He put on one more baserunner in the inning via a single before escaping unscathed.
Vargas continued by mowing down the Giants’ batting order throughout the rest of his time on the mound. He retired 21 out of his next 24 batters faced from the third inning to the ninth inning.
Offense
The Mets took on Tyler Beede (0-2, 8.15 ERA) of the Giants for the first five innings of the game.
They manufactured a run in the first inning behind a double from Jeff McNeil, a flyout by Pete Alonso that advanced the runner and a RBI groundout by Robinson Cano (who later left the game after re-aggravating his quad injury).
In the fourth inning, Michael Conforto greeted Beede with a home run to center field to lead off the inning. After both Wilson Ramos and Todd Frazier drew walks, Amed Rosario followed suit and blasted a homer to center to give the Mets a 5-0 lead.
The Mets manufactured another run in the fifth inning. Alonso started things off after getting hit by a pitch. He then advanced to third on a throwing error by Beede after Adeiny Hechavarria reached on a fielder’s choice. He later scored on a sac fly off the bat of Conforto.
Hechavarria gave the Mets their seventh and final run in the seventh inning as he hit a home run to left center field to lead off the inning.
The Mets scored more runs for Vargas in this start (seven runs) than they did for him while he was on the mound in his last five starts combined (four runs).
The Mets had eight hits (three home runs) and four walks on the night. McNeil was the only Met who had a multi-hit game as he finished 3-for-5 with a run scored. However, Ramos got on base three times and finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
On Deck
The Mets will look to string together back-to-back victories for the first time since May 25-May 26, as they play the rubber game of their series with the Giants on Friday at 12:10 p.m. EDT. Zack Wheeler (5-3, 4.68 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Mets, while Shaun Anderson (1-1, 4.09 ERA) will do the same for the Giants. The game can be followed on SNY, WCBS 880, and ESPN 1050.
