Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
As they say – let’s play 2! In the first game of today’s doubleheader against the Rockies, the Mets turned to the veteran Marcus Stroman and he did not disappoint as the Mets tried to hold down the fort while their rotation is still on the mend from injuries to Taijuan Walker, Seth Lugo, Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard.
“Since we have a lot of guys on the IL, I just feel it puts a little bit more pressure on the guys who are in the rotation to kind of carry their load while those guys are out,” Stroman said in a post-game press conference, referring to fellow starters Carrasco, Walker and Syndergaard.
Walker is expected to make his next start Friday night when the Mets face the Braves. Carrasco isn’t slated to return until late June after a hamstring injury in spring training and Noah Syndergaard had his return pushed back to after the All-Star Break after suffering a setback in a rehab start for Class-A St. Lucie.
Stroman has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts so far this year, taking pages from the Jacob deGrom playbook on how to limit runs. In six strong, scoreless innings, Stroman allowed only three hits and no runs with two walks.
There wasn’t much offense in game 1, but Jose Peraza‘s home run leading off the third inning was all that was needed to seal the victory, while the fantastic defense of Francisco Lindor shut the door on any Rockies rally in the second with a fantastic play to turn what would’ve been a Garret Hampson single into a fielder’s choice that cut down Brendan Rogers.
In that same post-game presser, Stroman understood that the Mets are going through a period of adversity with half their team on the injured list, having star players like Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Syndergaard out of commission.
“I know once we get them back, we’ll roll. Right now, we’re playing through a ton of adversity and we’re putting it together, putting wins together.”
Stroman now has a 2.47 ERA for the season, that ranks 11th in the National League. The impending free agent continued to be a ground ball machine, 10 of his 18 outs came via the ground on Thursday and he currently ranks fourth in baseball with a 54.2% ground ball rate.
The Mets are at home for three this weekend as they face Ronald Acuna Jr. and the Atlanta Braves starting Friday at 7:10 PM.
