Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
In this weekly feature for MMO, I’m going to look back at the previous week’s games and share some interesting data and information that I’ve collected through various websites such as Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, and Baseball Savant. It’ll be a mixture of facts, stats, and analytics.
Let’s get into the seven days between September 18 and September 24.
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Pirates vs. Mets
Jacob deGrom struck out 13 without allowing a walk over five innings pitched in the Mets’ 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s the fifth time in deGrom’s career that he’s struck out 13+ without allowing a walk. He’s tied with Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer for the sixth-most such games in major league history.
Sunday’s start was the 40th consecutive start for Jacob deGrom where he allowed no more than 3 earned runs. That’s the longest such streak since the ER became an official stat in both leagues in 1913 (excluding openers). He passed Jim Scott who held the previous record of 39 starts from 1913-1914.
Joely Rodríguez tossed two scoreless innings without allowing a walk or hit with five strikeouts. Rodríguez became the first left-handed Mets reliever to pitch two+ scoreless innings with at least five strikeouts since Chasen Shreve on August 17, 2020.
Joely Rodríguez struck out nine batters and did not allow a hit, walk, or run over his last three appearances. It’s just the third time in franchise history that a reliever did not allow any hits, walks, or runs while striking out 9+ over a three-game span, joining Armando Benítez (9/29/1999-10/1/1999) and Braden Looper (6/19/2004-6/23/2004). Rodríguez is the first lefty to do so.
Four Mets pitchers (deGrom, Seth Lugo, Joely Rodríguez, and Trevor May) combined to strike out 20 batters without allowing a walk. It’s the fifth time since at least 1901 that a club has struck out 20+ without issuing a walk in a nine-inning game.
Monday, September 19, 2022
Mets vs. Brewers
Max Scherzer tossed six perfect innings with nine strikeouts in his first start back from the IL in the Mets’ 7-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s the 42nd time in Scherzer’s career that he’s struck out 9+ without walking any. That’s the most such games by a pitcher in major league history. Randy Johnson is second with 41.
Max Scherzer has posted a 2.15 ERA over his first 21 starts with the Mets. That’s the lowest ERA by a Mets pitcher in his first 21 starts with the club.
Scherzer picked up his 200th career win. He recorded 200 career wins with 101 losses (99 games over. 500). According to Elias, only five pitchers in the modern era have had their 200th career win come with fewer losses on their résumé: Pedro Martínez (200-84); Juan Marichal (200-97); Whitey Ford (200-79); Lefty Grove (200-83); Grover Cleveland Alexander (200-96).
Brandon Nimmo recorded his 7th triple of the season, and 23rd of his major league career. He tied Ángel Pagán for the 11th-most triples in Mets history.
Pete Alonso hit a 3-run home run in the fourth to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. It was Alonso’s 20th road homer of the season, and the third time in his career that he’s hit 20+ homers on the road. The only other Met with at least three seasons with 20+ road homers is Mike Piazza (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).
Francisco Lindor recorded his fifth triple of the season with an RBI three-bagger in the sixth. He became the first Met with 20+ doubles, 20+ homers, 5+ triples, and 15+ stolen bases in a season since Carlos Beltrán in 2008.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Mets vs. Brewers
Francisco Lindor hit a game-winning grand slam with his go-ahead blast in the seventh to give the Mets a 7-4 lead. It was Lindor’s 25th homer of the season, becoming the first shortstop with 20+ doubles, 25+ homers, 5+ triples, and 15+ stolen bases since Trevor Story in 2019.
Pete Alonso drove in three runs with a 3-run homer in the sixth, giving him 121 RBI on the season. He became the first Mets hitter with multiple seasons of 120+ RBI.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Mets vs. Brewers
Luis Guillorme got hit-by-a-pitch with one out in the ninth inning in the Brewers’ 6-0 shutout over the Mets. That HBP set a modern single-season record for a team, moving them past the 2021 Cincinnati Reds (105).
Friday, September 23, 2022
Mets vs. Athletics
Jeff McNeil went 3-for-5 with a double, RBI, and two runs scored in the Mets’ 9-2 win in the opening game of a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics. It was McNeil’s 43rd career 3+ hit game, tying him with Rusty Staub for the 19th-most such games in Mets history.
Chris Bassitt tossed eight innings of two-run ball with two strikeouts to pick up his 15th win of the season. It was the first time a Mets’ starter went at least eight innings while recording no more than two strikeouts since Bartolo Colon on September 5, 2015.
Eduardo Escobar hit his first career grand slam with his blast in the fifth. It was Escobar’s 157th career homer, which tied Álex González for the 16th-most home runs hit by a Venezuelan-born player.
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Mets vs. Athletics
Jacob deGrom allowed four runs to score in the bottom of the first. It was the first time in deGrom’s career that he allowed four runs to score in the first inning of any start.
Francisco Lindor drove in his 100th run of the season with a sac-fly in the first. Lindor is the first Puerto-Rican-born shortstop to record 100+ RBI in a season.
Lindor and Pete Alonso are the first pair of Mets teammates with 100+ RBI in the same season since the club had three on the 2008 club (Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and Carlos Beltrán).
Pete Alonso’s 2-run home run in the first inning was his 82nd career road homer. That broke a tie with Dave Kingman and gave Alonso sole possession of the 6th-most road homers in club history. Darryl Strawberry leads with 129.
