Noah Syndergaard entered yesterday’s game as one of the best starters in all of baseball. One might even call him the game’s best pitcher Right Now. He entered with figures that earn adjectives like “microscopic” and “minuscule:” a 1.69 ERA, a 0.77 FIP, and 1.35 BB/9. He’d also struck out 12.8 per nine innings, trailing only David Price. When faced with such an opponent, it is necessary to identify and exploit weaknesses elsewhere. For Syndergaard, that’s his long stride to home plate with runners on base. On Sunday, the Giants targeted this weakness with aggressive base running, and it led to the inning that contributed to their 6-1 victory over the Mets.
In order to beat Syndergaard on the base paths, it is necessary to get guys on bases. That’s not very easy. Indeed, Syndergaard began the fourth by striking out Angel Pagan. He didn’t even create enough opportunity to luck into a hit. That was not the case with the next batter, Matt Duffy. This was a classic BABIP single. Syndergaard perfectly located a curveball on the lower outer portion of the strike zone. It was close enough to the strike zone to not take, but it was moving enough to make it impossible to square up. Duffy drooped a single to center field after a protective swing.
With a runner on first, Syndergaard next had to deal with Buster Posey at the plate. The Giants gave him more to deal with than just Posey. After taking a couple of extensive leads, Duffy took off and stole second base easily. Kevin Plawecki’s throw to second wasn’t perfect, but Duffy got a good enough jump off of Syndergaard to make the throw unimportant. With a runner on second and one out, the Giants were no longer in danger of an inning-ending double play. Posey then singled to right, putting runners on first and third with one out.
With Brandon Belt at the plate, the script remained the same, and it turned out to greatly benefit the Giants. Posey ran on Syndergaard, because he could, while Belt hit a sharp groundball to Neil Walker at second base. If Posey weren’t running, it would likely have been a double play. As it was, Posey made it to second base, Duffy scored and Belt made the second out of the inning at first base. The next batter, Hunter Pence, took a belt-high fastball out to right field to score another two runs. The Giants’ base-running didn’t cause the home run, but it was the underlying factor that made it possible in the first place.
The Giants’ three-run fourth inning didn’t necessarily decide the game. They added another run off of Syndergaard in the sixth and then tacked on runs in the subsequent innings. Syndergaard only ended up tossing 5.2 innings. The Mets posted a run in the seventh from a David Wright single, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
SNY broadcasters Gary Cohen and Ron Darling identified the primary issue with the base running: it bothers Noah Syndergaard. In other words, the problem isn’t that it might be easier to take another base on Syndergaard, but it’s that it might end up distracting him by becoming too much of a focus. If this becomes a problem to be solved with mechanical changes, it could have a cascading effect on Syndergaard. It would probably be best to look at it as a problem incidentally, if not totally, solved by him just being a beast on the mound.
Things are worse for Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, who is incapable of making an easy throw anywhere other than home plate; however, it’s not clear whether or not Lester thinks much about his yip. Suppression can be a form of management, even if Sunday’s game demonstrated that Syndergaard has a weakness that can be taken advantage of. It’s not going to be the last we hear about it.
Mets Shining Light, by WPA: Eric Campbell, 0.34
Mets Dim Cloud, by WPA: Noah Syndergaard, -0.156
Next Up: The Braves travel to Citi Field for a three-game set, and Bartolo Colón gets the ball in game one at 7:10 p.m.
Photo credit: Adam Hunger – USA Today Sports