The New York Mets (56-53) were defeated by the Detroit Tigers (60-49) by a score of 4-3 at Comerica Park Friday evening. With a Washington win, the Mets are now 9 games back for the division lead.
Pitching:
Noah Syndergaard was on the mound for the Mets tonight and he wasn’t at his best. Syndergaard labored a bit as Detroit worked some good at-bats against him all night long. All in all, Thor went 6 innings giving up four runs, walking two, and striking out seven.
The Tigers wasted little time getting things started tonight. In the bottom of the first inning, Ian Kinsler lead off the inning with a single on a line drive to center field. Syndergaard, who has had trouble holding runners on all year, allowed Kinsler to steal second and third base without much effort. Syndergaard was able to get Miguel Cabrera to ground out but Kinsler would come home to score to give the Tigers the early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, after the Mets had just taken the lead, Miguel Cabrera got things started with a single to left field. Victor Martinez was next and he hit a moon shot into the right-center field seats to give the Tigers the 3-2 lead. The Tigers weren’t finished there as J.D. Martinez followed with a double off the right field wall. After Nick Castellanos followed with a walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out, Thor was able to settle down and get Justin Upton to ground into a double play. With a runner on third and two out, James McCann smacked a single into right field to bring the runner home and give the Tigers a 4-2 lead.
Erik Goeddel came on for the Mets in the seventh and put the Tigers down in order. Goeddel was called on again in the eighth and pitched another scoreless inning. He has been very good since his return to the big league club this year.
Offense:
Justin Verlander was excellent tonight. His fastball sat in the mid-90’s for most of the night and he was able to keep the Mets hitters off balance by mixing up his pitches and locating very well.
In the top of the fourth inning with one out, Jay Bruce was able to work a walk against Verlander. With Bruce on first and two outs, Kelly Johnson got a hold of one and knocked it over the right field wall. At the time, it gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.
The Mets would add a run in the top of the ninth but it would not be enough against old friend Francisco Rodriguez.
Notes:
The Mets have not won back to back in nearly a month going back to July 7th.
Syndergaard now has a 3.99 ERA in his last 7 starts. Before Noah’s bone chip was discovered he averaged 14.91 pitches per inning. Since then he’s been at 17.71 driving up his pitch counts early.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a three-game set with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:10 PM. Logan Verrett (3-6, 4.20 ERA) looks to get the Mets back on track against Matt Boyd (2-2, 4.71 ERA).
