The Mets needed a stopper. Losing three games in a row prior to yesterdays game, they needed Noah Syndergaard to go out there and provide another big performance. He did his part. The Mets bats did not do theirs.
The god of thunder pitched seven innings last night. He allowed seven hits, and only one run. He walked one and struck out 12. Yes, 12. In a truly dominant performance, the Mets could not have asked for anymore from their young ace. Yet again though in this young season, a pitcher was left out to dry with no run support as the Mets fell to the Marlins 2-1. Terry Collins is still not worried.
“We certainly think we’ve got a good enough club to run off a string of wins no matter where we play,” Collins said. “We’ll worry at the end of the nine-game road trip. If we win [Wednesday], we can go on the road on a positive note. I’m not sitting here today down in the dumps thinking, ‘OK, the season’s a waste,’ when we’ve got a long, stinking marathon yet [to go].” (NY Post)
It is worth noting that the offense had the displeasure of taking on Marlins phenom, Jose Fernandez. He though was shaky early on in the game until he settled in and pitched five strong innings. The Mets threatened at times, but just could not break through as the Marlins bullpen held them scoreless through the remaining four innings.
“Jose Fernandez is never the remedy for a struggling offense, that’s for sure,” David Wright said. “We got a couple of chances early get to him, and he made the pitches to get out of it. That’s what the great ones do.”
Syndergaard was left with no room for error in what was expected to be a big time pitching matchup. The game lived up to it’s expectations in knowing it would be such a low scoring affair. The defending National League Champions have now lost four in a row and have dropped to 2-5 on the season.
“I’m more frustrated with the losing,” Wright said. “We knew runs [would be] at a premium tonight. The offense certainly hasn’t gotten off to the start we wanted to. I think guys will heat up. [Wednesday] will be a good day for that. … We need one of those days where we put up a seven or eight spot and relax a little bit.”
The Mets could use that day today when they close out the series against Miami. Logan Verrett (0-0, 9.00 ERA) gets the ball for the Mets, and will take on Adam Conley (0-0, 27.00 ERA).
