THE RUNDOWN
Yoenis Cespedes’s two-run blast was the only support that Noah Syndergaard needed, as Thor blanked the Giants offense for the 2-0 victory.
ALL (BATS) QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Both Jeff Samardzija and Syndergaard came out dealing, setting down the other side in order in each of the first two innings fairly easily. In fact, those first 12 batters saw only 36 pitches combined. The first batter in the game to reach base was Syndergaard himself, who worked an eight-pitch at-bat and an eventual walk with two outs in the third inning. Nothing came of it, though, as Jose Reyes flew out in foul territory to end the inning.
Syndergaard allowed a walk himself to Trevor Brown with one out in the bottom of the third. Brown took his first steal attempt of the season, which was unsuccessful, as Rene Rivera cut him down for the second out. Samardzija struck out to end the inning. It was the same story in the next inning. After the Mets went down in order once again in the top of the fourth, Eduardo Nunez reached base with a one-out single- the first hit of the game. Nunez, who’s got a decent amount of speed, attempted to swipe second, but Rivera nabbed his second baserunner in a row, easily beating the shortstop. Syndergaard then got Brandon Belt whiffing on a 93 mph slider for the final out of the inning.
Samardzija banged out two more one-two-three frames for his fifth and sixth hitless innings of the game. The final out of the inning came on a Joe Panik glove flip to first base to barely catch Reyes. Between Brandon Crawford’s diving stop to get Reyes in the first inning and Gregor Blanco’s tough catch on his foul pop in the third, Reyes got really unlucky in his first three at-bats (although at least two of those outs might have had something to do with the step — or two or three — that he’s lost over the past few years.) Syndergaard pitched scoreless fifth and sixth innings as well.
THE BIG BLAST
Curtis Granderson broke up Samardzija’s no-hitter in the top of the seventh with a leadoff double. Two pitches later, Cespedes ended his shutout:
That’s Cespedes’s third home run in his last nine PAs. (It took him 71 PAs to get his last three.)
That proved to be all that the Mets would need, and Thor and Jeurys Familia finished off the rest. Syndergaard faced six more batters, just walking Belt in the bottom of the seventh before inducing a double play from Crawford to end the inning. After an easy nine-pitch inning in the eighth, Syndergaard ended his scoreless outing with two hits, two walks, eight strikeouts, and just 98 pitches on his arm.
Familia finished off the Giants in bottom of the ninth, moving the Mets back to .500.
NOTES
-Sunday’s game was likely most impressive of Syndergaard’s young career. By game score, it was his best, with a tally of 86. That narrowly bested the score of 85 that he logged with his eight-inning, three-hit, nine-strikeout performance on July 28, 2015 against the (much weaker) Padres.
-The Mets will continue their road trip Tuesday against the Cardinals when Jon Niese takes on Jaime Garcia in St. Louis.
Photo credit: Lance Iversen – USA Today Sports