Noah Syndergaard allowed four earned runs on nine hits and three walks in the Mets’ 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs last night. The twelve total baserunners allowed were a career-high for Syndergaard, who wraps up a grisly August that featured a 4.74 ERA. He threw 102 pitches (65 strikes) across six innings, again failing to go the distance despite striking out six.

Syndergaard’s start can best be described as a tale of two halves, with his first three innings greatly overshadowing what turned out to be a much more tolerable final three. All four runs scored and 10 of the 12 runners reached base against Syndergaard through his first three innings and 63 pitches – only five of which were swung at and missed.

The first inning, as it has all month (9.00 ERA, .391/.417/.435 opponent line entering tonight), gave the righty fits, as the Cubs opened their turn at the plate with four consecutive hits (Javier Baez was picked off trying to nab second in a satisfying first out). A mound visit from pitching coach Dave Eiland helped Syndergaard recover, as he proceeded to strike out Jason Heyward and work a 5-3 chopper from Willson Contreras to end the inning and limit the damage to just one run.

Following a scoreless second inning that saw a mere infield hit from David Bote, Syndergaard ran into trouble in the third inning, as the Cubs again took advantage of a fastball he failed to establish up and in after resisting the outside changeups he’s frequently used to bait hitters. After a wild pitch to Contreras brought Baez (who had doubled to lead off) in from third and moved Heyward (who had walked) to second, the Cubs loaded the bases for opposing pitcher Jon Lester, who was hitting .102/.102/.163 coming into the night.

You can tell by my inclusion of the putrid offensive numbers that he still managed to turn the tables on the hard-throwing righty, and you would be absolutely spot on. Lester singled into short left-center to plate two more runs and officially put Chicago ahead 4-3.

After falling behind Bote 2-0 the next at-bat, Syndergaard went back to his 98 mph fastball for a short while, and one 2-2 slider later, had ended the inning with a clean punchout. While his fastballs and sinkers never recovered the strength to blow hitters away as they had earlier in the season, Syndergaard made up for it by showing some moxie with his breaking pitches to keep the Cubs off the board through the rest of his night while still using his hard stuff to tread his way through the lineup.

After Daniel Murphy led off the fourth inning with a loud single into center field, Syndergaard used a sinker and two sliders off the plate to make quick work of Baez before retiring Anthony Rizzo on a one-pitch lineout to the same spot. Things didn’t look too bright after the righty fell behind on-base machine Ben Zobrist 2-0. Nonetheless, Syndergaard got two timely swings-and-misses on changeups before inducing a flyout to left field to end the inning.

The final two innings of Syndergaard’s night proved to be his most dominant – as he got six swings-and-misses on just 25 pitches to hold together his high pitch count and push him through six innings. The curveball seemed especially unfair as the game pressed forward. He used three in succession to make a fool out of Contreras (one of the most offensively-gifted catchers in the game), and ultimately ended his night with a 3-2 hook to finish Baez (a serious candidate for National League MVP). The Baez strikeout proved especially impressive considering Murphy had walked on four pitches and stolen second just seconds prior, a development that had all the potential to throw Syndergaard into a tizzy.

Considering the Cubs have the fourth-highest OPS in the NL (.756) in the middle third of the game, it’s hard to lump Syndergaard’s no-decision into a black hole of starts that had been far more frustating through and through. When it comes down to it, the righty knuckled up and maintained his composure against a formidable offense that looked poised to blow things open. Syndergaard certainly didn’t mince words in his postgame interview, however:

“I just feel like every five days right now I’m just kind of wasting my ability to throw a baseball,” he told reporters. “My stuff’s too good to go out there and go six innings and give up four runs with nine basehits. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense… I think I’m past the point where I can make excuses of being on the disabled list, being sidelined. I just want to go out there and throw the ball well.”

“There’s more in there,” manager Mickey Callaway added. “[If] he can concentrate on some of the little things we’ve been talking about more, it will lead to a lot better run prevention… When it [happens], he’s going to settle in and get in that rhythm, and he’s going to be one of the elite pitchers in the game.”

Per Callaway, the Mets have been intent on getting Syndergaard accustomed to a quicker move to the plate while establishing more confidence in his offspeed pitches. On both counts, the night was a success for him. Murphy’s steal of second certainly presented a blemish that will need to be better controlled going forward, but given both his pickoff of Baez and the fact that none of the other 11 men to reach base managed to run anywhere, Syndergaard definitely did his part in picking up the pieces.

Time will tell if his pitch selection and execution will hold up, but given the conditions under which his start ended against the way they began, the early ineffectiveness might just be a symptom for Syndergaard to fight through as makes his way back to form.