Vargas held the free-falling Washington Nationals scoreless over six impressive frames on Friday night, allowing only three hits and punching out a season high eight hitters as the Mets took the series opener from their D.C. rivals, 3-0.

After Vargas had retired the Nats’ in order in the top of the first, the Mets offense got off to a fast start against Gio Gonzalez in the bottom half of the frame. Amed Rosario led off with a single and then stole second base, and two batters later the speedy shortstop scored on a Wilmer Flores single. In the second, Vargas got himself into immediate trouble when Ryan Zimmerman and Juan Soto singled to start the inning, but the southpaw wiggled out of the jam by retiring the next three Washington hitters.

New York threatened in the home 2nd but couldn’t push a run across, and after an uneventful third inning, the game went to the fourth with the Mets still up 1-0. It was here where Vargas delivered arguably his most impressive frame of 2018, striking out Bryce Harper, Zimmerman and Soto consecutively. The Mets got a two-out rally started in the bottom of the inning when Jose Bautista was hit by a pitch and Kevin Plawecki doubled, but Vargas himself struck out to end the frame.

In the fifth and sixth innings, Vargas retired six of seven hitters to end his outing, but New York was unable to extend their lead against Gonzalez despite getting runners in almost every frame all night.

The Mets turned the game over to Seth Lugo in the seventh, and Amazins’ dynamic bullpen weapon retired all six hitters he faced over two frames, striking out three. In the bottom of the eighth, with Gonzalez out of the game, New York was finally able to push across some insurance runs to put the game out of reach. Cult hero Jeff McNeil led off with a walk and reached second on a stolen base. The next two New York hitters were retired by righty Koda Glover, but Nationals manager Davey Martinez then summoned southpaw Tim Collins into the ballgame to face fresh-from-the-DL Jay Bruce. The left-handed slugger promptly deposited a fly ball over the right center field fence to extend the Mets’ lead to 3-0, which felt like an insurmountable sum with the lifelessness of the Washington offense.

Robert Gsellman came on to record the final three outs of the game to close out his eighth save of the season, and the home team was officially back in the New York groove.

Tonight Zack Wheeler will take the ball for New York opposing Washington righty Tanner Roark.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

The Mets! Another series! Rejoice!

WHAT HAPPENED, VARGY DOES HIS THING:

It’s no secret that Jason “Vargy” Vargas has faced his share of struggles. Entering Sunday as one of the worst starters of the year, the lefty managed to look just good enough to hold the Phillies for five innings. Sure, the only NL teams below the Phillies in OPS against left-handed pitchers are the Mets and Marlins, but for five innings, Vargas looked like he might actually be fine. After all, five innings of scoreless baseball isn’t a small feat.

Yes, balls were hit hard. The clock struck midnight when we entered the sixth frame, but it was a fine start overall. Vargas has now allowed just four earned runs in his last 11.1 inning, striking out just as many over that span. He isn’t blowing guys away, but his change-up worked for him  last night and, more importantly, so did the gloves of his defenders.

Of course, we’re past the point of convincing, but it leads one to believe that Vargas might have something left to give. Some area left where he can succeed. Surely, it’s not against righties. Oh God no. He’s one of the worst in the league there. And, well, he’s not great against lefties either. Not as a taker of meaningful innings, that’s for sure. Maybe it’s somewhere more remote. Against offenses that don’t hit lefties well. Or, generally, well at all. Maybe it is on Sundays, when The Lord has commanded opposing hitters to rest. Somewhere around this area seems to make the most sense.

WHAT HAPPENED, THE METS MAKE AN ALBUM:

At the plate, the Mets had a very unique outburst. You look at the linescore, and one thing sticks out. The Mets scored a ton of runs (8) on a ton of hits (14). When you look at the boxscore, it looks even better. Jeff “JT” McNeil, Jose “JoeyBats” Bautista and Kevin “Plaw Dawg” Plawecki recorded two hits apiece, Amed “El Niño” Rosario recorded three. That’s a lot of hits, but here is the kicker: they were all singles. Only one (1) of the Mets’ 14 hits on Sunday netted extra-bases — a pinch-hit, RBI double from Dominic Smith in the eighth inning.

It’s certainly one of the wilder things I’ve ever seen, and was most apparent in how the Mets got to Nick Pivetta early on. In the top of the second inning, the Mets put up four runs on five singles. Singles to left, center, right. The Mets were hitting the ball everywhere, and everywhere it was earning the Mets exactly one base. It was an effective tactic, as it bounced Pivetta in the fourth inning after throwing 79 pitches. It wasn’t your usual outburst, but it was an outburst nonetheless. It only left one question to be answered: will the Mets go platinum with this album?

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

Vargas and the pen finished strong against the Phillies. The lineup singled the Phillies to death. Overall, the Mets have officially spent the last two weeks…not losing? It’s a wild concept, I know, but the Mets have played better ball against mostly subpar opponents. Who knows if it will last, and I’m sure you’ve stopped caring, but it’s fine. Everything is fine.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

The Mets head back home to start a seven-game homestand, which starts with the San Francisco Giants. Derek Holland with face the scorching-hot Zack Wheeler, who owns a 1.41 ERA over the last month. It’ll be interesting to see if the Mets can keep up their improved play to wrap up the month of August, despite the competition getting a little tougher.

Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

Game Two: Phillies 9, Mets 6

Just over two weeks after an epic drubbing by Washington — where they lost by 21 runs on July 31 — the Mets saw things from the other side of the equation as they scored the most runs in franchise history, which included a 10-run fifth inning capped off by a Jose Bautista grand slam.

The lowlight of the afternoon came when Brandon Nimmo took a ball off his hand with the bases loaded in the top of the third. It rolled into fair territory, and the ignominy of a rally-killing dribbler paled in comparison to the sight of Nimmo lying face-down in the batter’s box. This horror show came almost a year to the day after Michael Conforto ended last season on a swing that injured his shoulder. Nimmo came out of the game, and initial reports were that x-rays were negative for a fracture. Given that past reports of a player’s robust health have proven grossly exaggerated (stay off those heels, Yoenis!), Mets fans will be forgiven for still living in dread.

That existential terror aside, the offense exploded for the second game in a row, plating 24 runs on 25 hits, helped by some execrable Philadelphia defense: third baseman Maikel Franco committed two of the Phillies’ four errors. The Mets feasted on the Phillies pitching, both when facing professional pitchers and after Philadelphia skipper (and ice cream enthusiast) Gabe Kapler waved the white flag and sent out position players to toss the final three innings.

Six Mets had at least three hits; Conforto, Amed Rosario and Bautista (who replaced Nimmo in the outfield) homered. Bautista’s seven runs batted in were a franchise record for a player coming off the bench. Kevin Plawecki had another outstanding game, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored and three runs batted in.

Corey Oswalt went six innings for his second win of the season. Thanks to those errors, only half of his counterpart’s eight runs allowed were earned; Ranger Suarez is now 1-1 in two career starts. Jerry Blevins pitched an inning of relief and collected his first major league hit.

In the nightcap, the Ballad of Steven Matz continued its doleful tune. The Mets southpaw lasted two innings, surrendering two home runs and six runs overall (four earned). Zach Eflin pitched 6.2 innings for Philadelphia, allowing four runs and striking out five.

Rosario collected another pair of hits in the second game, and was the bright spot in an otherwise lackluster Mets offense — although, to be fair, six runs is a pretty above-average showing for this year’s Mets team, especially if you ignore the 24 runs they scored a few hours before.

Trailing from Matz’s early exit by as much as six runs over the course of the game, the Mets did mount a rally in the ninth, managing to bring the tying run to the plate to make things interesting. After six-plus hours of baseball and a combined forty-three runs scored, there was only so much interest to go around.

The series continues at Citizens Bank Park at 6:05 p.m. Friday, as Noah Syndergaard (8-2, 3.22) faces Aaron Nola (13-3, 2.28).

Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

Last night’s game started out innocently enough. Zack Wheeler looked as bad as he has in a while, struggling to make it through the first two innings while working through tons of traffic on the bases and needing over 50 pitches just to get through the first six outs. He struggled to put guys away and didn’t have much command of his secondaries; ultimately looking a lot like the Zack Wheeler of last season. But because the Orioles are bad, he was able to make it through those two innings with only one run given up.

Wheeler settled down in the third, though, and was able to get through five innings having only allowed the one run. Luckily for him, the Mets were able to build him a 5-1 lead by that point. The team had scored two in the first inning on a Wilmer Flores sac fly and a Todd Frazier single, two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Jose Bautista and a double by Brandon Nimmo, and Frazier added a solo shot in the fifth.

But they were just getting started. The Mets came to bat in the top of the sixth inning. Here’s how that inning went:

Out
Hit by pitch
Double
Triple
Walk
Out
Walk
Double
Walk
Grand Slam
Out.

Nine runs later, the Mets led 14-1. They wound up scoring 16 runs on the night, when Flores cranked a two-run homer in the ninth.

The Orioles are quite bad.

The grand slam was, of course, hit by Kevin Plawecki. He was also the player hit by the pitch earlier in the frame, meaning he was the only Met who actually reached base twice that inning. Now, the entire offensive showing here is far too extensive to give any more of a blow-by-blow, so perhaps we should just highlight these offensive standouts for the night:

Brandon Nimmo: 5-for-5, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles, 3 RBI - He was a home run short of the cycle. After the game, he said he was honored to even have the chance to complete the cycle, because of course he did.

Wilmer Flores: 2-for-5, 1 run scored, HR, 3 RBI,  – Wilmer continues to be a steady offensive contributer with consistent playing time. Who the heck would have thunk it?

Todd Frazier: 3-for-6, 2 runs scored, double, HR, 4 RBI – Yeah that’s a nice line and all, but why exactly was he DHing?

Jose Reyes: 2-for-5, 2 runs scored, triple, double – Hey cool sure whatever.

The Orioles are really not a good team.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

David Wright went 0-for-3 with a walk and played seven innings at third base, while Jay Bruce went 2-for-4 in their rehab assignments with Port St. Lucie.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets go to the City of Brotherly Love to do battle with the Phillies in what will be a five-game series this weekend, beginning with a straight doubleheader today. Corey Oswalt will get the ball in game one at 4:05, while Steven Matz will toe the rubber in Game 2. The Phillies have not announced their starters for the doubleheader as of yet.

Photo credit: Evan Habeeb – USA Today Sports

Amed Rosario opened the game with his first career lead-off home run, followed by your (hopefully) 2019 starting second baseman Jeff McNeil, who singled home Brandon Nimmo.

deGrom wavered a bit in the third after a McNeil error allowed Giancarlo Stanton to reach base and eventually score on an Aaron Hicks single.

Despite this, deGrom entered into his coveted “get everybody out mode” and proceeded to mow down the Yankee lineup with total ease. He eventually stuck out 12 in 6.2 innings pitched and allowed just seven batters to reach via a hit or walk.

Though he probably should have been dealt at the deadline, Jose Bautista’s home run in the fourth to “deep right” against Sevy allowed the should-be Cy Young to enter in cruise control. Bautista had entered the game two for his last 32.

For the Mets, a win against the Yankees is always welcome – but last night the players played the way we all thought they would back in March. Jerry Blevins did the job against a lefty in Brett Gardner, Todd Frazier crushed a hanging slider from AJ Cole for a crucial round-tripper in the sixth, the young core of Michael Conforto, Nimmo, Rosario and McNeil all showed out – and perhaps most importantly, the run support was there.

Eventually, the score after the final out was 8-5, and incredibly the Mets’ have now scored eight runs in each of deGrom’s last two starts after combining for a total of eights runs in his previous three before that.

It is these types of games that show us the potential of what Sandy Alderson and staff were trying to do. However (and obviously), there is no real consistency. I touched on it last week – and maybe it just happens to be a coincidence when I write these recaps – but these are the types of games that show what could be, but in reality what truly isn’t.

Regardless, a Subway Series victory is certainly a boost of confidence all the way from the front office to the players to the fans watching at home.

Photo credit: Amed Rosario – USA Today Sports

It’s a Jason Vargas start. Don’t think much more really needs to be said.

At least the greatest second baseman of all time – Jeff McNeil – is still in the lineup.

Game Recap

Mercifully, Jason Vargas wasn’t in the game for long. After recording only one out and giving up three hits, an almost two-hour rain delay chased the struggling left-hander from the game. Paul Sewald replaced Vargas and allowed the two runners he inherited to score, closing the book on Vargas after 0.1 innings and three runs. By the time the top of the first ended at 9:10, the Mets trailed 3-0.

Sal Romano, meanwhile, continued with his regularly scheduled start after the rain delay, and he dominated the Mets. Brandon Nimmo and Jose Bautista managed their only two hits off the righty, both of which came in the second inning and led to the Mets’ only run. Romano also walked three, including two starting the seventh inning before he was pulled. Jared Hughes relieved Romano and worked out of that jam with little trouble, recording a strikeout, fly out and ground out to strand two.

The Mets, meanwhile, had to patch together a game from their bullpen. Sewald got through the second inning and was replaced by Bobby Wahl, who gave up two more runs in the third. Tyler Bashlor kept the Reds off the board in the fourth and fifth, and Drew Smith did the same in the sixth and seventh. Jacob Rhame kept that trend going in the eighth, but gave up a home run to former Met Dilson Herrera (traded for Jay Bruce in 2016) that stretched the Reds’ lead to 6-1.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets had one last chance, with singles from Nimmo and Todd Frazier putting two men on with one out. That chance was squandered too, of course, as Bautista and Kevin Plawecki both popped up to end the game. The loss drops the Mets to 46-65.

Thoughts from the Game

It’s a little sad and entirely unsurprising that most of us were hoping the rain would just cancel the game rather than delay it. More importantly, the fact that the Mets’ win expectancy probably went up with Vargas out of the game is a problem, and it’s one that will, in all likelihood, not go addressed in the offseason. There’s no reason for Vargas to be on the Opening Day roster next season, but the Mets front office literally doesn’t know the meaning of the term “sunk cost,” so expect him to be pencilled in as the third starter from the first day of spring training.

As a more uplifting tidbit, enjoy this pregame Jeff McNeil factoid:

Jeff McNeil is 8-for-12 in his last three games. The last Mets rookie with 8 or more hits over a 3-game span was David Wright in 2004.#Mets host #Reds
7 pm on @SNYtv

— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) August 7, 2018

Other Met News

Chris Flexen underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, which will end his season. The 24-year-old was in the midst of a disastrous season, recording an ERA of 12.79 in the majors and putting up an unimpressive 4.40 in Triple-A to go with unremarkable peripherals. Hopefully some of his struggles can be explained away by his injury and he he can hit the ground running next year as viable starting pitcher depth.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

The night couldn’t have started much better for the Mets, as following a Brandon Nimmo walk and a Wilmer Flores single, suddenly hot Michael Conforto deposited a 2-2 pitch from Ivan Nova into the right field seats to quickly put the visitors up 3-0.

Lefty Jason Vargas, making his first start in six weeks, took the mound in the bottom of the first and encouragingly retired the top of the Pittsburgh line-up in order. But after the Mets went quietly in the second, Vargas’ follow-up inning of work did not quite go as swimmingly.

Elias Diaz led off the frame with a hit, and Freese then contributed his first dose of damage, blasting a two-run shot to left to cut the New York lead to 3-2.

After the bumpy first inning, Nova was able to settle in and navigate through the middle innings with minimal difficulty, and while Vargas tossed a 1-2-3 third, he ran into significant trouble after that. In the fourth, he gave up a single to Diaz and a pair of walks before getting Jordy Mercer to fly out to left to strand the bases loaded. But in the fifth, Vargas wasn’t as lucky. A one-out walk to Jordan Luplow chased the southpaw from the game, but relief ace Seth Lugo was not in top form. After getting his first batter, Josh Harrison, to fly to right, Lugo allowed a hit and a walk that brought Freese to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Predictably, he ripped one right up the middle for a two-run single that flipped the game and put Pittsburgh up 4-3.

The Mets quickly responded in the next half inning, but they did so in strange fashion.

Conforto and Jose Bautista both walked to start the road sixth, which prompted Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle to replace Nova with hard-throwing righty Edgar Santana. Mets’ new everyday second baseman, (more on that later) Jeff McNeil, was then asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, and he did even better than that. McNeil dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line, causing Santana to rush the throw to first without setting his feet and, after the throwing error, New York had the bases loaded with nobody out. Kevin Plawecki then struck out for the first out, but then things got weird. Jose Reyes hit a hard line drive to left field that Luplow caught on the run, and while the ball was clearly not deep enough to score Conforto from third base, Luplow unleashed a downright terrible throw to the plate that sailed to the backstop and allowed the Mets to tie the game on the throwing error.

New York got scoreless relief work from all of Tyler Bashlor, Jacob Rhame, Jerry Blevins and Anthony Swarzak, while Pittsburgh’s Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez were close to untouchable, and thus this game headed to the bottom of the ninth still tied at four apiece. On came Tim Peterson, the Mets’ seventh pitcher of the evening, and he was not quite as fortunate as the previous relievers.

Harrison led off the Pirates’ ninth with an infield hit, and when Gregory Polanco pulled a hit of his own through the hole, the Mets’ chances of getting this game to extra innings suddenly looked exceedingly bleak. New York intentionally walked Diaz to load the bases and set up a force at every base, but in doing so they brought Freese to the plate, whom they hadn’t retired all night. On the first pitch Peterson threw him, Freese crushed a line drive to the right center field fence to walk off the game and send the home fans home happy.

Tonight, New York will send ace right hander Jacob deGrom to the hill against the Pirates Trevor Williams, a game that looks like a pitcher’s dual on paper.

***

Roughly an hour before this game started news surfaced that the Mets had traded second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Double-A right-hander Franklyn Kilome. It doesn’t mean much in the Mets organization, but our own Jeffrey Paternostro estimated that Kilome, who has shown some inconsistency throughout his career and is likely to end up as a reliever, could jump right into the top 5 in the system. Considering the fact that Cabrera is a rental, Kilome could easily end up being a great deal for the Mets.

Originally in the starting lineup, Cabrera was scratched and McNeil moved to second base with Reyes joining the the starting lineup at third. With the late transaction, the Mets were obviously unable to get a roster replacement to Pittsburgh in time to be active for the game, and thus played a man short on Friday night. One man who did make it in time was new Met Austin Jackson, who is either going to replace Jose Bautista or fit in as a fourth outfielder or maybe be the new closer.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports

Between a New York team with very little to play for and a Pittsburgh club almost on the edge of having something at stake, it was a lively game that turned into a laugher at PNC Park — and the Mets were not on the side of the crooked score you might expect. They won their third game in a row — also not something you would expect.

The important thing is that Steven Matz continued to progress, and pitched a sometimes gutsy, sometimes dominant game. Another important thing is how Asdrubal Cabrera, surely on the trading block this week, upped his marketability with two doubles, a home run, and four runs batted in.

Over the first four innings, the game fell into a quick cycle as the Mets would stake a lead that Matz promptly surrendered. The southpaw took the mound for the first time with a two-run lead, only to watch the Pirates tie the score in the bottom of the first. The Mets regained the lead, 4-2 in the third, only to watch the Pirates tie the game again. In the fourth, the Mets again put Matz in the lead, and this time it stuck.

Rookie Jeff McNeil provided some weird, bad baseball in his first major league start, misplaying a line drive and then running the Mets out of a rally in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Devin Mesoraco grounded to third, and Pittsburgh third baseman David Freese’s throw pulled Josh Bell off the bag, allowing Mesoraco to reach safely. McNeil ran from first to third, forcing a prone Jose Bautista to lamely jog into a tag at the plate.

The Mets got to Pirates starter Nick Kingham early and often, knocking him out after three-plus innings and lighting him up for six runs, all earned. Wilmer Flores and Asdrubal Cabrera homered against him.

Matz went six innings, and struck out the first five batters he retired — he struck out nine overall, tying a career high. Despite the early inability to hold leads early, his stuff was electric, with some extra speed on his fastball that he kept in on right-handed hitters and at the top of the strike zone. He retired the final ten batters he faced.

Jason Vargas (2-6, 8.60) takes the mound tonight against Ivan Nova (6-6, 4.28); first pitch will be at 7:05 p.m.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports

Corey Oswalt got the ball for the Mets in this one and did all right for himself, giving up two earned runs on three hits over five innings, while striking out four and walking two. Even though he had only thrown 62 pitches in the fifth inning, he was pulled from the game in a questionable decision by Mickey Callaway to pinch hit Phillip Evans for him in an RBI spot, though Oswalt did apparently jam his hand while swinging the bat earlier in the game. That said, it was still a fine start for the young Oswalt, who only got the nod yesterday because of Noah Syndergaard’s virus. In fact, this was actually Oswalt’s fourth straight serviceable start. Now, keeping him in the rotation is not a total necessity, but the best argument for him to stick around is that he’s decidedly not Jason Vargas.

Anyway, the Mets were trailing 2-0 by the time the fifth inning rolled around, but that was when the offense broke out. A Kevin Plawecki RBI single got the Mets on the board, and a little later Evans drove in the tying run when he pinch-hit for Oswalt. Then — get this — the Mets executed a double steal, which feels like something we haven’t seen since Jose Reyes’s first tenure with the Mets. That set it up for Amed Rosario to drive in the two runners on a base hit to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. Jose Bautista (who I still can’t believe is actually a Met) added two more in the bottom of the sixth with a towering dinger off the second deck, the kind of prodigious home run he became famous for.

The bullpen, shockingly, handed back a couple of runs in the seventh when Tim Peterson (who I also still can’t believe is actually a Met, although for different reasons) served up a two-run homer to Freddy Galvis. Robert Gsellman came on after him and took care of business, and Anthony Swarzak handled the ninth for his second save of the season as the Mets continue to piece together the shattered remains of their Jeurys Familia-less bullpen.

As an aside, Reyes notched another single for sixth hit in last 19 at bats. If you’re scoring at home, that is a .315 batting average. Perhaps Reyes is finally rounding back into the barely-useful, tenuously rosterable bench player that he was last year instead of just the not-useful, completely unrosterable player he’s been this year. Maybe the Mets were actually right about him the whole time, and it was we, the children, who were wrong?

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

The big news finally came. After six days of the Mets stalling and waiting for multiple doctors’ opinions, they finally came to the decision yesterday for Yoenis Cespedes to undergo season-ending surgery in order to correct the bone spurs and calcification in both heels which have caused many of his leg problems over the years. The recovery is expected to be 8-10 months, which would put his return at around April or May of next year in a best-case scenario.

It sounds like the actual wait for the last six days was just so that the Mets could find out whether or not the contract was actually insured, which it is. So the Mets will indeed recoup a good amount of money that is owed to Cespedes over the rest of the season and the beginning of next year, similar to their current situation with David Wright. However, John Ricco would not say whether or not the money would be reinvested into the team.

The surgery is unfortunate for Cespedes, but necessary, and something that should have been done at least two months ago. This whole situation has been a total embarrassment for this entire organization, and it is their own fault. No reasonable person could have followed this saga for the last week — even being ignorant to the rest of the team’s mishandling of injuries and transparent dysfunction — and walk away with the belief that there is a modicum of organization within the Mets’ front office, or any accountability among their decision-makers. Under direction of the Wilpons, and without Sandy Alderson around to lead these misfits, the team appears to be about as organized as a kindergarten class. And much like kindergarteners, they like to point their fingers at other people (read: the players) when they do something bad.

Meanwhile, if the Wilpons are serious about contending next year, it is their absolute duty to reinvest the money saved back into the payroll for next season. Unfortunately, John Ricco’s non-answer to that question already probably tells you what they intend to do with it.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

In a lot of ways, this game was everything the Mets envisioned could be routine when they broke camp in March. Instead, given the way the Amazins played in the first half, last night was more of a mirage of what could have been.

The Mets certainly came out of the All-Star break on the attack against Yankees starter Domingo German. Brandon Nimmo led the game off with a walk and quickly scored two batters later when Asdrubal Cabrera lined a double into the right field corner. After German got Wilmer Flores to pop up, Conforto and Jose Bautista continued the damage, stringing together back-to-back run-scoring doubles to put the road team up 3-0 before Syndergaard even took the mound.

The big righty looked sharp early, and although he surrendered a pair of two-out singles in the first, the frame should almost certainly have been a clean one, as Amed Rosario simply whiffed on a very playable ground ball up the middle from Didi Gregorius. After an uneventful 2nd inning, the Mets extended their lead in the third, thanks to a towering lead-off homer from Cespedes in his first game back from the DL. The Bombers plated a run in the bottom of that inning on a sac fly from Giancarlo Stanton, but Syndergaard stranded two to prevent the Yankees from getting any closer.

The 4-1 New York (NL) advantage held until the fifth, when the Amazins mounted another rally, this time against righty reliever Adam Warren. Walks by Cespedes and Flores put two on with one out, and a Conforto single to left restored the Mets’ four-run lead. Two batters later, Flores would come around to score on a hit from Devin Mesoraco, giving the Mets a 6-1 lead. After Syndergaard stranded another runner in the fifth, a frame in which he scarily required a visit from the trainer, manager Mickey Callaway decided to err on the side of caution and remove his co-ace after five with his team up five.

Relief ace Seth Lugo entered in the sixth, and unfortunately he didn’t have his best stuff. Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird started the frame with back to back singles to put Lugo in immediate trouble. He did strike out Miguel Andujar to get his first out, but former Met Neil Walker then doubled in both runners to get the Yankees within striking distance at 6-3. Lugo returned to the mound in the seventh and continued to bend but not break, walking two and allowing a single, but stranding the bases loaded.

The Mets offense stalled a little in the later innings against Yankees relievers Chasen Shreve, Chad Green and Jonathan Holder, which allowed the Bombers to stay in this game, and they really started to make the road dugout uncomfortable in the eighth. With Robert Gsellman now on the hill, Brett Gardner hit a one-out grounder to Rosario who bobbled the play, giving the Bombers a free runner on the error. An Aaron Judge single, followed by a run-scoring double from Gregorius made that error loom extremely large as the inning progressed. Stanton drove in his second run of the contest on a ground ball to shortstop to get the Yankees within one run, but a big strikeout of Sanchez stranded the tying run 90 feet away.

In the road ninth, the Mets actually played strong situational baseball to generate a key insurance run. Cabrera led off with a single against A.J. Cole and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Flores then pushed him to third with a ground ball to second, and Cabrera could later walk home on a long sac fly from Conforto.

As the Yankees prepared to hit in the bottom of the ninth, a new drama began to unfold. In a clear save situation, Jeurys Familia remained seated in the road bullpen wearing a jacket, a telling sign that he’s imminently being traded. Gsellman was the one who trotted out to the mound to attempt a to secure the save in his second inning of work, and while he did allow the Bombers to bring the tying run to the plate, the Mets perhaps new closer of the present was able to get the job done.

It has been about two months since the Mets have won a series but they’ll attempt to do it tomorrow with Steven Matz on the hill.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports