In yet another impressive outing from the resurgent Noah Syndergaard on Saturday evening, the right-hander, with the help of the Mets’ blazing hot offense, pitched the team to a series-clinching 4-3 comeback win over the Washington Nationals.
Syndergaard looked shaky early on. The righty had trouble settling in to the first inning, throwing 29 pitches and giving up two runs; a home run by Juan Soto. He would not allow another Nationals’ batter to cross the plate. After getting into his groove, the Texas native tossed six scoreless frames allowing seven hits and walking two batters. Thor finished the night throwing 97 pitches through seven innings, giving up just the two first-inning runs and adding five strikeouts.
The 26-year-old’s seven inning outing was his sixth consecutive, a career high, and owning a 1.91 ERA during that span. His string of seven-inning starts is the longest active streak in all of baseball.
Despite requesting Tomas Nido as his personal catcher back in June, Thor worked with Wilson Ramos for the first time in eight starts.
The starter’s confidence in their battery surely helped get things going on Saturday night.
“I thought we were on the same game plan, I was seeing the ball well,” Syndergaard said, per Brian Lewis and Howie Kussoy of The New York Post. “I just trusted the fingers he put down. I really trust his judgement when it comes to those hitters coming up to the plate.”
Going into the All-Star break, the Mets sat 10 games below .500, 13.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East, and 7.0 games back of the second Wild Card.
Today, the club holds a 61-56 record with a chance to hop over the Nationals for second place in the NL East, and to be in the position for a Wild Card berth. While all aspects of the team have contributed heavily, the emergence of the Mets’ dominant starting pitching that couldn’t seem to find it’s rhythm through the first half of the season has really carried the Amazin’s through their incredible 21-6 second-half run.
From March 30 to July 6, Syndergaard held a 4.68 ERA and was allowing opponents to hit for a .261/.315/.417 slash line.
Post-All-Star Break, the righty has allowed just nine runs in six starts, with opponents hitting just .219/.268/.316 for a .584 OPS.
After the game, Noah commented that team’s charge up the standings is “pretty reminiscent of what happened in 2015,” per the Mets Twitter. “It was awesome,” he said, “Awesome win.”
Moving on from his rocky first-half, Thor now holds an 8-5 record with a 3.89 ERA and a 2.3 bWAR on the season. He has 145 strikeouts in 148 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.209.
Later this afternoon, led by ace Jacob deGrom, New York will have the opportunity to sweep the Nationals at home for the second time this year. The win will be the club’s ninth straight, as the fighting Mets’ will try to continue to roll over their opponents right into October baseball.
