The Mets (69-56) beat the Phillies (50-76) by a score of 6-5 Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Pitching:
Noah Syndergaard started for the Mets, securing his first ever road victory. In his 10th road start, he went 5 innings allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 9. Other than two mistakes that led to home runs by Freddy Galvis and Ryan Howard, he wasn’t bad. He had some of his best stuff, however his command was lacking as it has been on the road. His fastball was routinely 98-99 mph as early as the 1st inning, as well as hitting 100 mph a few times. He has now allowed 7 home runs in his last 5 starts.
Eric O’Flaherty continues to be rather disappointing. He tossed a third of an inning, allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits, while striking out one.
He was relieved by Hansel Robles who pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings, striking out three. He also started a little controversy which I elaborate on below in the notes section.
Tyler Clippard started the 8th inning. His changeup was working well, however he threw a lot of pitches to get through 2 outs. He allowed a hit and a walk and struck out another.
Jeurys Familia relieved Clippard with 2 outs and runners on first and second. He got Carlos Ruiz to ground out to David Wright to end the inning. Tossing his new absolutely filthy 93-95 mph splitters, he struck out the first two batters in the 9th and induced a weak ground ball right back to him for the third out, recording the 4-out save, his 34th save of the season.
Offense:
Before I could even turn on the game, Yoenis Cespedes had already belted his 25th home run of the year and his 7th as a Met, a 2-run shot in the first inning.
Kelly Johnson and Travis d’Arnaud each recorded multi-hit efforts. Johnson finished 2-4 with a run scored, while d’Arnaud finished 2-3 with a double, RBI, a walk and a run scored.
Noah Syndergaard also contributed to the effort, driving an RBI double to right field in the 2nd inning, scoring Travis d’Arnaud.
With the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 6th inning, the Mets opted to pinch hit for Noah Syndergaard with Michael Cuddyer. He lined a clutch 2-RBI single to center field to give the Mets a 6-4 lead.
Notes:
The Mets have now hit 51 home runs in their last 28 games. Take from that what you will.
With two outs in the 7th inning, Hansel Robles tried to quick pitch Darin Ruf. Not in the sense that Latroy Hawkins taught everyone on the staff, but the batter was not yet settled in the box and he threw the pitch. This led to some shouting from the Phillies’ dugout predominantly from Jeff Francoeur and Larry Bowa, who was ejected by the home plate umpire. The dugouts cleared but there was not anything more.
This is the Mets 7th straight win agains the Phillies as they continue to beat up on the rest of the NL East. This is also their 5th consecutive win overall.
Jeurys Familia is throwing pitches I have never seen before. 98 mph sinkers, 94 mph splitters, and 91 mph sliders combine to give him one of the nastiest repertoires in the major leagues. If he can start to command them all, he has an extremely high ceiling.
On Deck:
Wednesday, the Mets will send Bartolo Colon (10-11, 4.90 ERA) to face Phillies’ rookie Jared Eickhoff (1-0, 0.00 ERA) at 7:05 PM at Citizens Bank Park in Philly.
