The New York Mets defeated the Minnesota Twins by a score of 9-6 Wednesday night at Citi Field (Box Score). Things broke open in the fifth inning when the Mets walked SIX times and scored six runs in the process.

They made the Twins pay for free passes again later in the seventh, which resulted in three runs and a big night for the Met offense. The final number of walks for the Amazins was ten. Minnesota made things interesting in the eighth by scoring four runs but the Mets held on for the win.

Pitching

One thing I wanted to keep an eye on was Noah Syndergaard‘s sinker usage. In the first inning, Thor utilized it well, throwing it six times over his first 16 pitches. A clean inning, three up and three down with one strikeout. It took Syndergaard only twelve pitches to get through the second, picking up two more strikeouts.

The first hit of the game came on a Johnathan Schoop dribbler down the third base line (that had a whopping Exit Velo of 67.5 MPH) to lead off the third. Three batters later, Max Kepler drove in the first run of the game with a line drive single to center that brought Schoop home.

Not much changed in the fourth inning as Syndergaard needed only eight pitches to put away the Twins. The fifth inning was Noah’s longest of the night at 18 pitches but the results were more of the same. Two more strikeouts for Thor.

The sixth was another strong inning for Syndergaard and his sinker usage to this point is up to 36.8% which is substantially different from his previous outings. Thor racked up strikeouts number six and seven in the 7th inning as he had dominated the Twins thus far. After seven innings pitched, he had only allowed two hits while walking zero on 87 pitches.

Mitch Garver led off the eighth inning with an infield single (that had an Exit Velo of 70.5 MPH and had an xBA of .080) and then after a passed ball advancing the runner, Schoop hit an RBI double down the first base line. Byron Buxton then jumped on a fastball and took it to deep right-center for a run-scoring triple. That was the end of the night for Syndergaard as he left the game up 9-3. For those scoring at home, the final tally of sinkers thrown for Thor was 35 which put him at a usage rate of 35.7%.

Jeurys Familia then came on in relief and quickly allowed an RBI single to Jake Cave followed by a double to Max Kepler. After a Jorge Polanco walk, the Twins made things interesting by loading the bases, but all they could muster was one more run on a Willians Astudillo double play making the score 9-5 heading into the ninth inning. Noah Syndergaard’s final line was 7.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks. Familia finishes with 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 Ks.

The Mets turned to Sugar Diaz for the ninth inning in a non-save situation. After striking out C.J Cron, Diaz let up a home run to Mitch Garver to make the score 9-6. Following another Schoop single and a wild pitch, Diaz settled down to strikeout Buxton and Adrianza to end the game.

Offense

Jake Odorizzi didn’t make it out of the first inning in his last start, but he managed to set down the Mets in order on 16 pitches to start the game, striking out Brandon Nimmo and Robinson Cano. The former Tampa Bay Ray had another clean inning in the second, as he got both Wilson Ramos and Jeff McNeil to fly out on the first pitch.

The third inning was more of the same for Odorizzi, who did walk Amed Rosario, but retired the next three in order. The Mets continued to be aggressive in the fourth, trying to attack early in counts but to no avail. Another clean inning for Odorizzi, as he tallied just 47 pitches to get through four innings.

The Mets finally made Odorizzi look human in the fifth inning. Jeff McNeil hit a one-out single to left for the Mets first hit of the night and then the righty walked Amed Rosario and J.D. Davis to load the bases. Mcneil ran himself into an out at third base but Syndergaard followed by drawing the Mets fourth walk of the night which resulted in a pitching change for the Twins.

Newly promoted LHP Andrew Vasquez entered and plunked Nimmo on the third pitch of the at-bat to tie the game. Following Nimmo, Pete Alonso walked to put the Mets ahead 2-1 and then Robinson Cano walked to make it five Met walks in the inning, giving them a 3-1 lead.

That was the end for Vasquez as Trevor Hildenberger entered to face Michael Conforto with the bases loaded. Believe it or not, Conforto walked to take the lead 4-1, which was the 6th Met base on balls in the inning. Wilson Ramos then made the Twins pay by hitting a two-run single to right field putting the Mets ahead 6-1. Jeff McNeil eventually made his second out of the inning and the Mets went into the 6th up by five runs.

Martin Perez replaced Hildenberger and had a quick 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half of the sixth, needing just 12 pitches. Things didn’t go as smoothly for Perez in the seventh as Nimmo led off with an infield single, followed by walks to Alonso and Cano to load the bases. Conforto then made Perez pay with a two-run single up the middle to make it 8-1. Later in the inning, McNeil hit an RBI single to score pinch-runner Luis Guillorme and make it 9-1.

Outside of a Juan Lagares walk and a stolen base, the Mets couldn’t get much going in the bottom of the eighth against Trevor May. The Mets finished the night with ten walks and just nine strikeouts.

On Deck

The Mets head to SunTrust Park to play the Atlanta Braves in the first game of a four-game series. Steven Matz (0-0 0.87 ERA) takes the hill for the Mets against Kevin Gausman (1-0 0.00 ERA). The game will start at 7:20 p.m. and air on SNY.