Pitching in place of injured Steven Matz on Sunday, fellow southpaw Jon Niese responded with his seventh straight quality start as the Mets completed a sweep of the Diamondbacks with a 5-3 win.
Niese tossed 6 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits including a home run by Paul Goldschmidt. He walked none and struck out three en route to his second straight win. He told reporters it was all about throwing strikes aggressively.
“I had a four-game slump there where I just wasn’t able to execute anything and I was able to get through it,” Niese said. “We got a lot of confidence in our stuff. We just go out there and attack hitters.
“That’s the biggest key. We’re not trying to work around guys. We’re attacking them and we’re having a lot of success.”
Niese, 28, has been on a great run, allowing just three or fewer earned runs in each of his last seven outings, and posting a 2.64 ERA since June 1.
“It’s all about command with Jon,” said manager Terry Collins. “He’s got four pitches and when he uses them all he’s effective.”
Last week, reporter Andy Martino said that despite Niese’s impressive stretch, he’s done nothing to increase his allure to other teams or increase his value. I’m not buying it.
Mets starters as a whole have all been incredibly effective as they hold to pitching coach Dan Warthen’s mantra of attacking the strike zone.
The rotation has produced a 1.56 ERA (19 earned runs/109.2 innings) in their last 16 games dating to June 25.
Oh crap, just realized I threw Warthen a compliment, that should be good for a couple of dozen angry people freaking out.
