The Mets (64-55) defeated the Orioles (61-57) by a score of 5-3 on Tuesday night in Baltimore.
Pitching:
Jacob deGrom started for the Mets and was, once again, magnificent. He pitched 7 2/3 masterful innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 6 strikeouts and a walk throwing 100 pitches. The only run came on a 6th inning home run off the bat of Gerardo Parra. DeGrom’s ERA now sits at a pristine 1.98 ERA, second in the major leagues only to Zack Greinke (1.58).
Tyler Clippard relieved deGrom in the 8th after he allowed a base hit to Manny Machado. His job was to face Gerardo Parra, who is 0-8 against Clippard in his career. Make that 0-9, as Parra lifted a long fly ball to right, on which Granderson made a fabulous catch jumping towards the wall, preserving the lead.
After the Mets extended their lead to more than 3 runs, Jeurys Familia sat down and Clippard went back out to start the 9th inning. He got Adam Jones to fly out, but then allowed a walk to Chris Davis and a base hit to Matt Wieters putting runners on first and second with one out.
It was then a save situation, so Familia came in to preserve the 5-1 lead. He proceeded to strikeout Jonathan Schoop with a nasty 93 mph splitter. There was then a dribbler between first and second base, which led to some miscommunication preventing the Mets from getting the out at first, an infield hit.
J.J. Hardy then came to bat as the tying run with the bases loaded and two outs. After going to a 3-2 count, Familia threw a splitter in the dirt to walk in a run, trimming the Mets lead to 5-2. Then came a 5 pitch walk to the nine hitter Urrutia for another run, Mets lead 5-3. Both of those runs were charged to Tyler Clippard.
Manny Machado then came to the plate, my fingernails are almost gone at this point. First pitch, sinker away. Second pitch, a hanging slider fouled off, 1-1 count. Sinker fouled, and then on a 1-2 count, Familia threw a splitter which Machado clearly went around on but the first base umpire disagreed. Then on a 2-2 pitch, Machado grounded out to Murphy at third and was thrown out to end the game.
Offense:
Curtis Granderson had a great day at the office, belting two solo home runs as well as drawing a walk, going 2-4. He led off the game with a home run, setting a new franchise record for leadoff home runs in a season, besting Jose Reyes‘s 6.
Daniel Murphy also had a great day, going 2-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, one of which came on a clutch sac-fly in the top of the 9th inning.
Lucas Duda, Michael Cuddyer, and Michael Conforto all recorded base hits. Conforto also threw out a runner at the plate from left field in the bottom of the 5th inning.
The Mets capitalized on three defensive miscues committed by Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop. These included a dropped ball on a cutoff play that could have gunned Wilmer Flores at the plate, a ball thrown away on an easy grounder, and a dropped ball trying to turn a double play in the 9th inning. The double play led to a big Mets inning featuring the Murphy sac-fly as well as Flores scoring on a wild pitch.
Notes:
DeGrom is so good. His curveball and change-up have been fantastic lately, giving him a repertoire of four ++ pitches (fastball and slider as well). If it weren’t for Zack Greinke (13-2, 1.58 ERA), I believe deGrom (12-6, 1.98 ERA) would likely be the Cy Young frontrunner.
Familia finally has that third pitch we have all been craving, and man is it good. It’s a splitter, sitting at 91-93 mph with a ton of downward movement. If he can get consistent with it, he will hopefully be even more effective.
David Wright played another rehab game, going 0-1 with three walks and a strikeout. He has gone 4-15 in rehab games and is eyeing the series in Philadelphia for a return. He also committed his fourth error.
On Deck:
Noah Syndergaard (7-6, 3.07 ERA) and the Mets will try to sweep the season series against the Orioles and Ubaldo Jimenez (9-7, 3.92 ERA) wednesday night at 7:05 pm at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
