Jason Vargas and the New York Mets fell to the New York Yankees by a score of 5-1 on Wednesday night as the southpaw was jumped on early in the first inning. Vargas though was able to right the ship a bit, going deeper into the game than expected after a rough start.
Vargas, 36, would go on to toss 5.1 innings before surrendering the ball over to the Mets’ bullpen. He allowed three runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out six prior to exiting the game. Vargas has now allowed three runs or fewer in 12-straight starts, the third-longest streak of his career.
Mets manager, Mickey Callaway spoke of Vargas’ start with the media after the game.
“I thought he threw the ball really well,” Callaway said. “Obviously a great lineup over there and he kept them off balance and kept the ball underneath the zone when he needed to and he gave us a chance. Another great outing from him.” (NY Post)
Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres jumped on Vargas early, producing a double and single respectively to get the Yankees on the board in the first inning. Jason kept the “Bronx Bombers” off balanced through a good portion of the game before serving up a home run to Didi Gregorius in the sixth inning that would end his night.
“I just made a mistake, really lost focus,” Vargas said. “That’s why I felt so bad about how that last at-bat went down, because I felt like we were in probably pretty good situation to finish that hitter and finish the inning.”
With the six strikeouts that Vargas tossed, he has now done so in four of his last seven starts. He has no such outings in the first seven starts of the season. He has become a steady force in the rotation.
Vargas’ record currently sits at 3-4 on the year with an ERA of 3.77 and a WHIP of 1.31. He has produced a FIP of 4.38 and a WAR of 1.0.
As he continues to show his ability to be a dependable solution within the starting rotation, he is surely to be desirable to some contending teams who seek help with the backend of their pitching staffs.
