Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets hosted the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday evening, the second game of a double header. Max Scherzer’s dominant performance led the Mets to victory over Logan Webb and the Giants, by the score of 3-1, sweeping the day/night double header.
Scherzer began his outing by striking out Mike Yastrzemski swinging and Brandon Belt looking. He would strike out four Giants hitters in his first two innings of work. Scherzer did not allow a runner to reach base until he walked catcher Curt Casali, and took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning before allowing a RBI single to Darin Ruf.
The Mets offense, sparked by a Francisco Lindor double down the right field line, was able to get to Webb early in the third inning. Following a Pete Alonso base on balls, Eduardo Escobar ripped a two-run double past the diving glove of Belt. Dominic Smith followed that up by earning a RBI single up the middle, bringing the Mets lead to 3-0.
The Mets lineup did a nice job of getting Webb’s pitch count high early in the game, forcing Giants manager Gabe Kapler to take him out after 75 pitches and 3 2/3 innings. The Mets tacked on three runs, six hits, and three base on balls off of Webb.
Lindor, Escobar, and Smith each recorded two hits in the night cap. Lindor enjoyed a significant day at the plate, combining for four hits, two RBIs and one run scored in both games played.
Besides the third inning, the Mets offense struggled to produce runs, leaving 16 runners on base. They had a solid night at the plate overall, but that’s a number you would like to see improve. The offense did record eight hits and struck out a total of seven times, while working three walks.
Drew Smith took the mound in the top of the eighth inning, allowing one base runner after a Casali single to left field. Smith had a moment to hold his breath when Yastrzemski hit a deep drive to right, but it curved just foul. The right-handed reliever didn’t allow that to effect his outing, getting Yastrzemski to fly out to Starling Marte and Belt to roll over to second base to end the inning.
Trevor May received the save opportunity in the ninth. He retired the side in order to secure the win for New York by forcing Ruf and Joc Pederson to ground out, and striking out Brandon Crawford for the final out of game two.
Player of the Game: Max Scherzer
This was an obvious one. Mad Max teased a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings, which had the chance to be the second no-hitter in Mets history. No-hitter or not, Scherzer was flat out dominant. He proved to be the pitcher that Steve Cohen offered a record-breaking contract in terms of AAV.
His final line: seven innings pitched, 10 strikeouts, three walks, one hit and one earned run. He improved his record to 3-0 on the season, the first Mets pitcher to win his first three appearances with the team since Jorge Sosa did it in 2007.
It was a best-case-scenario for the Mets on Tuesday, winning both games against a well built Giants squad. They have at least guaranteed a split in the four game series. Game three will take place on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. at Citi Field, where the Mets will look to win the series.
