What was overshadowed last night at Dodgers Stadium, as the Mets not only lost the game 5-2 , but lost their shortstop Ruben Tejada to a broken leg as well, was a solid pitching performance by starter Noah Syndergaard.
The rookie right-hander pitched well enough to win and literally was off to a blazing start, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun 15 times during the first three innings and striking out six.
However, things began to turn as Thor’s pitch count was rising and he became less efficient. In the 4th inning, Syndergaard was tagged by back-to-back doubles by Justin Turner and Andre Ethier to shrink the Mets lead to 2-1.
But it was the 7th inning that proved critical in the game. Some were surprised to see Syndergaard take the mound with his pitch count already above 100 for the night. After a walk to Enrique Hernandez and a pinch-hit single by Chase Utley it was then that Terry Collins had seen enough.
With the tying and winning runs on base, Bartolo Colon relieved Syndergaard hoping for grounder and a double-play to extinguish the Dodgers threat. Instead chaos ensued when a dirty slide by Utley opened the floodgates and the Dodgers would win the game.
“The biggest thing was getting Syndergaard out” said former Met Justin Turner. “We got him out and got to the bullpen.”
Syndergaard was charged with three runs as a result which marred what was otherwise a solid effort in his postseason debut. Thor went 6.1 innings, allowing 5 hits and striking out 9 batters while walking four.
“It was unfortunate. We battled out there. I established the strike zone early went a little deeper in the counts than I’d like to,” said Syndergaard after the game.
All in all, it was good outing for Syndergaard who was never overwhelmed pitching in the spotlight of such a grand stage. In fact, quite the opposite as we saw the dominant fire-baller burst out of the gate for six innings and oozing with confidence until things took a decidedly ugly turn no-thanks to Utley.
