Noah Syndergaard has tossed 10 innings since returning from a strained ligament in his finger that had kept him out over a month. Not once has he turned in a perfect inning.
On six such occasions, the opposition has put two or more runners on. Syndergaard allowed three runs and two walks in a start against the Washington Nationals last week, and admittedly improved to just one run and no walks against a much more formidable New York Yankee lineup.
However, surrendering eight hits to any team and “tiring out,” be it from what manager Mickey Callaway described as fatigue or what Syndergaard explained to be a “dead arm” is anything but putting a “whupping” on Yankee bats – as Syndergaard had prematurely vaunted over earlier in the day.
We know that both Syndergaard’s dips in velocity and semi-alarming lapses in control had little to do with the aforementioned injury, with the righty even citing “missing six weeks and then having another three days off at the All-Star break” as the culprit, nonetheless adding that “[there’s] nothing to be alarmed [about]… I’ll be ready to go in five days.”
While he did in fact notch his 500th career strikeout and will still head into his next start with a 2.89 ERA and six wins on the season, Syndergaard does so with a career-high 1.25 WHIP, and has completed seven innings on just two occasions in 2018.
As a point of reference, the hard-throwing righty had already done so eight times in 2016 in the first half alone. Last night, Syndergaard registered under 95 mph with his fastball 10 times. Across his entire career prior to last night, he had only thrown eight such pitches to non-pitchers.
Mind you, Noah has fired on limited ammo not only in 2017, but in 2016 as well, when he soldiered through bone spurs and helped carry a rotation that had started to erode. And while tasking a rested but flammable bullpen with four innings should never be on the agenda, Syndergaard, to his credit, did a fine job limiting collateral damage.
Noah got off to a hot start by punching out leadoff man Brett Gardner with a nasty sinker, and likely could have ended the inning with two groundouts had it not been for Amed Rosario misplaying the latter with two outs, thus extending the inning, which ended seven pitches, one single, and a sharp groundout to first shortly thereafter.
Miguel Andujar snuck a slow two-out infield hit along the third base line to prolong the second, and Syndergaard promptly fell behind 3-0 to Neil Walker, but again adjusted, inducing a flyout to left field.
The wind began to beat into the sails a little harder in the third inning, as Syndergaard, substituting his two-seamer for a sinker and somewhat faulty changeup, allowed singles to Gardner and Aaron Judge after falling into 2-0 counts.
One well-earned, king-size popout later, Giancarlo Stanton just missed a booming home run on a hanging slider, instead flying out to deep right to plate Gardner and get the Yankees on the board. Aaron Hicks singled, prompting a mound visit before Syndergaard forced a popout out of power threat Gary Sanchez.
Syndergaard, despite losing a mile per hour or two on the fastball, threw a resourceful, scoreless fourth inning on 12 pitches. As the meat of the order awaited him in the fifth, however, it would become apparent that Noah was running on fumes. With a sinker bottoming out at 93.7 mph, Thor was visited by a trainer with Judge at first (thanks to another single) and one away, but remained in the game.
Adapting with his brain and not his back, Syndergaard beat Stanton in a full count with some perfectly-spotted offspeed pitches along the inside edge of the plate. In a 2-0 hole against Hicks, no less, the narrative repeated itself, as Syndergaard made a pitch that – although a tepid 94 mph sinker – ultimately got the job done, as Hicks would lineout to Michael Conforto, thus ending Thor’s first career Bronx start at 84 pitches.
“Those kind of outings when you don’t have your best stuff I think are the most fun ’cause you have to go out there and show who your true colors are and really battle,” he said.
It’s hard to determine whether or not Syndergaard’s cavalier attitude is justified. Of course, the shtick is far more thrilling when he pitches for a team that is set up to compete for a seat in the postseason, and to many may even be losing its charm right about now.
What’s ultimately most intriguing, however, is not so much the fact that Syndergaard intends to turn the page on another five-inning performance. Rather, it’s that he seems unfazed by a start that, to both the fans and broadcast booth, was both defined by modest pitch values and sullied by some noticeable exhaustion.
