New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard entered Friday night’s series-opener versus the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium as one of the hottest starting pitchers in MLB.
Since the All-Star break, Syndergaard’s pitched to a 1.91 ERA/2.23 FIP over six second-half starts (42.1 innings) with 44 strikeouts, 10 walks, and 1.04 WHIP. Over the first few innings of Friday’s 4-1 loss, the 26-year-old Texan continued on that pace, efficiently and effectively shutting down the Royals.
Unfortunately, Thor’s momentum was slowed in the fifth and the Mets’ offense (1-for-9 with runners in scoring position) failed to tip those scales back in New York’s favor, dropping the first of a three-game set to the Royals, 4-1; a game they, by general consensus, had to win.
Syndergaard tossed a perfect first, striking out Hunter Dozier swinging on a terrific four-seamer-slider-slider sequence to end the frame and worked around a leadoff double via Jorge Soler in the second, striking out Bubba Starling along the way.
After a flawless third and working around an apparently frustrating two-out walk (Syndergaard was clearly miffed as he entered the dugout after the inning) issued to Soler in the fourth –striking out Brett Phillips on a gorgeous, 90 MPH slider to leave him stranded — the power righty entered the fifth at just 43 pitches thrown.
Starling was caught looking at a slider to start the frame but a single through the shift via Ryan O’Hearn, an RBI double over the first-base bag from Meibrys Viloria, and an opposite-field RBI double over the third-base bag from Nicky Lopes in consecutive at-bats staked the Royals to a 2-1 lead.
For the first time all game, Kansas City had Syndergaard working hard on a hot, muggy night at Kauffman, and it seemed to affect his command a bit. He limited the damage in the fifth, retiring Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon to leave two Royals on base, but ran into more trouble in the sixth before regaining his composure.
Dozier led off the frame with a double into the right-center field gap, Soler followed with a base-on-balls, and Syndergaard went 3-0 to Phillips before inducing a 6-4 fielder’s choice, leaving runners on the corners with one out.
After a considerable strikeout of Starling (91 MPH slider) and a stolen base (Phillips swiped second), Thor punched out O’Hearn on yet another slider to end his evening.
Syndergaard’s final line of two earned runs on five hits over six innings (six strikeouts, two walks, 90 pitches; 59 strikes) lowered his ERA from 3.89 to 3.86 on the season but it simply wasn’t enough on a night the Mets looked a bit lethargic. When a team arrives in Missouri via Atlanta early Friday morning for a 7:10 PM game that night, these things are bound to happen.
After the game, Syndergaard spoke to the Mets’ press corps (video via SNY) about his night and how the heat affected his performance.
“I thought we were OK. I feel like I just had to battle the elements out there,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about humidity but we do not get along […] I was sweating like a greased pig out there […] I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty good at sweating. I try to take precautionary measures between innings, make sure I dry off so I can go out there the next inning and grip the ball.”
Jacob deGrom — humidity or not — will attempt to get the Mets back in the win column on Saturday night in Kansas City. LFGM.
