Noah Syndergaard‘s career with the New York Mets began in Chicago on May 13, 2015, when he allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in five and a third innings against the Cubs. His game score in that start sat at just 46, with shaky control headlining a long-awaited debut.

Fast-forward four years and eight innings to the righty’s last start ahead of the 2019 trade deadline: he’s still in Chicago – albeit on the south side facing the White Sox. His game score sits at 76 (his third-highest mark of the year) thanks to a five-hit, 11-strikeout performance through 7 1/3 innings. The Sox’ lone run came across on a two-out fielding error from Todd Frazier in the sixth inning.

Once a cherished component of the team’s exciting pitching core, Syndergaard will now wait out the entirety of Wednesday’s deadline day as one of the most sought-after arms among available starting chips. Though last night goes down as a no-decision for him, the start almost certainly garnered attention among contending teams still looking to upgrade their rotation. At the very least, it served as another building block back to normalcy in what has been a tumultuous, in some respects, even frustrating 2019 campaign.

His performance in Tuesday night’s 5-2, 11-inning victory marked the 16th time in 107 career starts that Syndergaard eclipsed ten or more strikeouts, and also brought his career punchout total to 710. In the event that last night marks his last go-around in a Met uniform, Syndergaard would finish 12th in franchise history in strikeouts, just four behind Bobby Jones. Perhaps most encouragingly, however, the start marked the fourth straight occasion in which Syndergaard amassed seven or more innings of work – a streak he had never accomplished in his five-year career.

Such as the tone was in his prior three appearances, Syndergaard continued to chip away at both his ERA and strikeout rates on the season: in 28.1 innings since July 7, Noah has allowed just six earned runs (1.92 ERA) while striking out 36 (11.5 per nine) and walking seven (2.2 per nine). Going by pitch quality and efficiency, though, last night was almost certainly his best in that time.

His inning-to-inning pitch count ranged from seven in the fourth to just 19 in the sixth. Mind you, had Frazier properly converted a weak two-out grounder from the slow-footed Jose Abreu, the in-game high would’ve fallen to 14. In any case, Syndergaard responded to the adversity the same way he has to the incessant trade rumors that have followed him for over a year now: perhaps a tad bothered, but focused nonetheless.

Syndergaard’s control early on seemed questionable, as he worked a three-up, three-down first on 11 pitches, but threw just six for strikes – with some such fastballs quietly missing their spots. A Jon Jay flyout to the warning track in left field didn’t make for the best of omens given his profile as a lefty slap hitter, but with time, the hard contact dissipated and Syndergaard began churning with his offspeed pitches.

The Texas native led off the second inning with a diet of curveballs to fool rookie slugger Eloy Jimenez into a swinging strikeout, and proceeded to carve up backstop James McCann with a 99 mph fastball on the inner half to take back an eight-pitch at-bat.

A five-pitch walk to light-swinging eight-hitter Yolmer Sanchez could have presented a challenge with the order waiting to turn, but Syndergaard again knuckled down, this time jamming center fielder Adam Engel into a weak 1-4-3 double play to retire the side.

After a seven-pitch fourth in which he threw all seven pitches for strikes, the righty unofficially put his name on his start. A pair of three-pitch strikeouts to Jay and Abreu that featured a devilish contrast between sliders and changeups headlined one of Syndergaard’s best frames to date, and carried him into the fifth inning with a no-hitter in the works.

“I think tonight was probably the top I’ve felt, mechanically,” Syndergaard told reporters following the game. “I just felt really good out there.”

Ryan Goins doubled to kill any speculation, and when Jimenez found himself ahead 2-0 not too shortly thereafter, concerns of another implosion seemed on the rise. Nevertheless, a meeting with personal catcher Tomas Nido proved to make all the difference. Syndergaard froze Jimenez on a 2-2 slider to notch another strikeout, extorted a one-pitch 6-3 groundout from McCann, and proceeded to strike out Tim Anderson on three pitches – the last being a 100 mph fastball (his third of the inning).

Entering the sixth inning at just 54 pitches, Syndergaard again lost to Sanchez – this time on a seeing-eye single to center field. One stolen base and one Engel strikeout later, right fielder Leury Garcia moved him to third on a single to left. This time, Noah got the better of Jay on a 1-2 slider that tied him up on the inside part of the plate. The aforementioned error in the next at-bat cut the Mets’ 2-0 lead in half, though a composed five-pitch groundout of Goins the next at-bat rendered the run unearned.

Tasked with another seventh inning to grind through, Syndergaard required just ten pitches, capping off his last at-bat with an 89 mph slider on the outer black to fool Anderson and retire the White Sox in order. The eighth inning proved a little more daunting, as Sanchez and Engel each singled to put men on the corners and bring the order around for a fourth turn. Syndergaard, still chucking his fastball into the triple-digits, naturally embarrassed Garcia with a 1-2 slider in the dirt for an 11th and final strikeout. On yet another competitive note, Syndergaard was pulled in favor of lefty Justin Wilson.

“He was electric. I thought he had all pitches working,” said skipper Mickey Callaway. “To pitch that deep in the game, he did a tremendous job. That was probably the best I’ve seen him… His slider was there, he mixed in some good curveballs… some right-on-right changeups that were just really nasty… He made pitches all night.”

Callaway went to Seth Lugo one pitch later after a bunt hit loaded the bases, and Lugo promptly induced a 5-4-3 double play to retire the side and keep New York ahead. And while Edwin Diaz‘s blown save in the ninth took Syndergaard out of the picture for a win, the righty appeared largely unconcerned with his fate in the organization:

“I don’t think anything is going to happen… I think I’m staying put,” he said. “It’s always in the back of my mind. I try not to harp on things that are outside my control… I guess it’s encouraging at the same time, I guess I’m a hot commodity at some point. Now it’s starting to get old.”

Cincinnati’s acquisition of Trevor Bauer complicates the trade market for starters, but not insomuch as it renders both Syndergaard and soon-to-be free agent Zack Wheeler more valuable for contending teams still in need. In the same vein, however, the Mets’ own trade for Marcus Stroman would imply a commitment to the team’s playoff chances next season, which would defeat the purpose of trading Syndergaard – who has two years of control left following 2019.

Whether or not the Mets front office understands the potential benefits of an improved second-half from Syndergaard, however, there should be no qualms about either Syndergaard’s adaptability or his maturity as a frontline starter. In the midst of a tense and underwhelming season in which his patience with this organization and its media outlets has been tested time and time again, he has taken matters into his own hands this past month, and the pitches he’s thrown have confirmed the narrative.