Another day, another game where the home run and great starting pitching power the Mets (6-6) to victory. Tonight in Philadelphia, they defeated the Phillies (6-8) by a score of 5-2.
Offense:
Did someone say David Wright was dead?
The third baseman had his best night of the year thus far, starting in the first when he hit an opposite field solo shot off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff to give the Mets an early lead.
Eickhoff actually pitched quite well for the Phillies, who saw most of the damage come against the bullpen tonight. Eickhoff’s only other blemish came in the sixth inning when Lucas Duda, who is perhaps starting to heat up, doubled home Yoenis Cespedes to make it 2-1 Mets.
Duda and the offense struck again off David Hernandez in the top of the eighth. Duda hit an absolute bomb to right field, reaching the second deck. The homer was estimated at over 420 feet, which seems low when you actually see it. Not to be outdone, Neil Walker followed up with a solo shot of his own to make it 4-1 Mets.
The most exciting — or at least unexpected — moment of the game for the Mets came in the next inning with David Wright up at bat. Wright took another pitch deep to right field off Elvis Araujo, his second home run of the game. Wright showed tonight that he’s still got some power. especially given that both homers went to right field. With the two bombs, Wright brought his slash line for the year up to .289/.426/.526. I think it’s fair to say that he’s still going to be a force to be reckoned with at the plate this season. He even impressed on defense tonight, making an outstanding bare-handed play in the fourth. Tonight was vintage David all-around.
Another notable on the night was Asdrubal Cabrera who, although he didn’t hit any home runs, went 3-for-4 with a double, bringing his batting line for the year up to an impressive .349/.391/.419.
Pitching:
David Wright may have stolen the show tonight, but Noah Syndergaard wasn’t far behind. The young righty was dominant once again, allowing just one run over seven innings of work to collect his second victory of the season.
Syndergaard was able to pound the strike zone with his blazing fastball, which was continually registering at 100 miles per hour or faster. He walked two batters and scattered five hits but was otherwise very efficient, throwing 64 of 94 pitches for strikes.
Overall, Syndergaard passed the torch to the bullpen after striking out eight batters and allowing just one run. He now has a 0.90 ERA.
Jeurys Familia ran into some trouble in the ninth trying to close it out for the Mets. Familia allowed a single to lead off the inning and then a double to David Lough, putting runners on second and third with no outs. He finally struck out Cesar Hernandez to get the first out of the inning, but then allowed an RBI groundout by Andres Blanco to cut the Mets lead to 5-2. But with two outs, Familia was able to punch out all-or-nothing Darin Ruff to end the game and put the Mets’ 5-2 win in the books.
Some notes on Syndergaard:
– His fastball averaged 99.2 MPH tonight
– His sinker averaged 100.1 MPH
– His fastball topped out at 102.1 MPH
– His sinker topped out at 102.3 MPH…
Oh and he also threw a friggin changeup at 93.9.
On Deck:
The Mets play their second game of this three-game series tomorrow night in Philadelphia as Logan Verrett (0-0, 1.29 ERA, 7 IP) faces off against Vince Velasquez (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 15 IP). First pitch is at 7:05.
