Through two innings in this afternoon’s road affair with the Houston Astros, Noah Syndergaard allowed just two hits while striking out a pair in a scoreless, 23-pitch start.

The day began on a shaky note for Syndergaard, when George Springer ripped a middle-away changeup into left field for a leadoff single before stealing second and scampering to third on a base hit from Josh Reddick two batters later.

The Texas native quickly brought it back together, however, as Reddick was nabbed trying to steal second two pitches later and Yuli Gurriel – at that point down 0-2 – popped out to first base on a tough slider away.

Syndergaard came back out for the second, having escaped the first on 11 pitches (10 strikes), and proceeded to cruise through the side. First baseman Tyler White grounded out to shortstop on two pitches before Robinson Chirinos and Ronnie Dawson both succumbed to high-and-tight 1-2 fastballs to end the inning.

“I felt great. I felt really in-tune with my mechanics, had a good thing going back there with [Tomás] Nido,” Syndergaard told reporters mid-game, noting the bond he and his batterymate have carried over from a handful of tremendous 2018 starts. “I was trying to go out there and establish my fastball early in counts, work with my changeup after that, and threw some really good sliders in some important counts.”

Overall, Syndergaard’s fastball sat in a comfortable 98-99 mph range, throwing just five balls and refusing to fall behind any of the seven batters he faced. Against his last two batters, the righty jumped ahead 0-2 with the help of some devilish changeups, making quite the statement despite the no-decision.

“I was pretty much max effort, for the most part,” he added. “Felt really good though, my arm stroke was clean and easy, and it was encouraging to see some swing-and-misses on a four-seam fastball up in the zone.”

Syndergaard, who came into training camp last year with consistent triple-digits heat, will look to work with more intent as he aspires for his first 30-start season since 2016 – among what will hopefully be many more accomplishments in 2019. Having averaged just under 16 pitches per inning last season, today’s start made for a good first impression.