In a sentence
Wilmer Flores homered twice and Jacob deGrom held the Marlins in check as the Mets cruised to their sixth win in seven games.
The good
After a dreadful night at the plate on Tuesday, the Mets were back to their slugging ways during Wednesday’s day game against the Fish. The displaced shortstop/third baseman/first baseman was scheduled to spell James Loney at first base, but jogged across the diamond to fill in at third when Asdrubal Cabrera was a late scratch after family issues.
That, of course, left Jose Reyes at shortstop, just like the good ol’ days before glass doors and Hawaiian hotels and domestic violence suspensions.
Making the most of his fleeting playing time, Flores knocked in two solo shots off Marlins lefty Justin Nicolino in the second and fourth innings. Between that, Reyes finally recorded his first hit as a new Met after going 0-5 on Tuesday with dreadful swings. Rene Rivera walked to lead off the third inning and deGrom followed with a force out that put the lanky hurler at first with one out. Reyes doubled down the third base line to put runners at second and third and Curtis Granderson singled in both runs as the Mets took a 3-0 lead.
Of course Nicolino was basically genetically engineered in a lab to give up bombs to Flores.
— Jeffrey Paternostro (@jeffpaternostro) July 6, 2016
Reyes doubled again in the fifth but was stranded at third based when Flores grounded into a double play to end the inning.
deGrom held up his end of the bargain and pitched seven solid innings of baseball against his intradivision rivals, allowing just six hits, two runs and two walks while recording seven strikeouts. You could argue that Terry Collins left deGrom on the mound an inning too long — where have we heard this one before — as the righty finished his start with 117 pitches, but the All-Star Break allowed the Mets manager to work his starter more than usual with an extended vacation coming up.
Addison Reed pitched a clean eighth and All-Star Jeurys Familia recorded his 30th save of the season.
The bad
Giancarlo Stanton certainly looks like his slump is over as the Marlins slugger blasted two enormous home runs on a rope off deGrom, including a 470-footer that’s the longest in Citi Field history. Then again, Stanton does that against pretty much everyone, so you shouldn’t read too much into that.
The ugly
The Wednesday afternoon news dump reached deadly levels yesterday as the Mets placed Matt Harvey on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder discomfort. The Dark Knight is headed to St. Louis for a second opinion from Dr. Robert Thompson, a thoracic and vascular surgeon. The team is reportedly concerned about a Thoracic Outlet Syndrome diagnosis, which essentially ended the careers of Noah Lowry, Josh Beckett and Shawn Marcum, among others. Former Mets pitcher Chris Young had surgery for TOS in 2013 and came back productive, but has said that he feels “completely different” than his former self.
What’s next
The Nationals come into town for a four-game set to close out the first half.
Baseball Prospectus is hosting BP Night at Citi Field on Saturday, including a team panel with GM Sandy Alderson and TJ Barra, manager of baseball R&D; a media panel featuring Mets beat reporters Anthony DiComo and James Wagner and Nationals beat reporter Chelsea Janes; and a BP and friends panel including former editor-in-chief Ben Lindbergh, managing editor Bret Sayre, minor league editor Craig Goldstein and BP Mets writers Jeffrey Paternostro, Jarrett Seidler, Mike Vorkunov and Maggie Wiggin. The game was supposed to be a Harvey-Max Scherzer start, so come join the fun as we figure out which starter the Mets run out on the mound.
Photo credit: Adam Hunger – USA Today Sports