Taking the mound after 10 days off, newly-acquired New York Mets right-hander, Marcus Stroman, needed some time to shake the rust off, but eventually settled into a groove, giving the organization, his teammates, and the fans a glimpse of what type of well-rounded hurler the Long Island native is.

Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds, Starling Marte, and Josh Bell led off the bottom of the first with four consecutive singles, tying the game at one, and Stroman walked Jose Osuna with the bases loaded to stake Pittsburgh to a 2-1 lead.

Stroman made a terrific defensive play in the first inning, chasing down a Newman groundball between the mound and the third-base line and firing home to nab Marte for the forceout at the plate.

Stroman credited the Gold Glove-caliber play with giving him “a little momentum and confidence, too”, adding “with my sinker, I feel like I’m a double-play away at any point in any game”.

A 35-pitch first frame was less than ideal, and despite working around two more base hits in the second, the 28-year-old needed 21 offerings to navigate that mini-mess and head into the third with a bloated 56 pitches thrown.

Then, like a switch turning on, we got an idea of why general manager Brodie Van Wagenen deemed sending two of the organization’s top pitching prospects in left-hander Anthony Kay and right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson in exchange for Stroman a worthwhile venture.

Stroman worked perfectly through the third and fourth innings, accurately locating his two-seamer and slider and inducing an average exit velocity of just 83.6 MPH on four balls in play, picking up two strikeouts along the way, to boot.

After allowing a leadoff double to Reynolds in the fifth and walking Bell two batters later (his ball-four wild pitch allowed Reynolds to advance to third), Stroman was replaced by left-hander Luis Avilan.

Avilan hit Kevin Newman with a pitch to force a run home with the bases loaded, giving the Bucs a 3-1 lead, but avoided any further damage, leaving Marcus Stroman with a line of three earned runs allowed on seven hits over 4.1 innings of work with three strikeouts and two walks.

The Mets came back to win, riding Wilson Ramos’ six RBIs to their eighth win in nine games and moving back within four games of the second wild-card spot in the National League, so all’s well that ends well.

After the game, Stroman spoke to the Mets’ media corps about his first start in blue and orange and vowed to perform better in the future (video via SNY).

“As I started to settle in, all my pitches started to do what I wanted them to do more. I knew it was a little bit of a layoff. I know that once I get back to my bullpen and kind of focus on a few things, I’ll be much crisper next time out.”

Something to look forward to, for sure.