The Mets won the first game of their four-game series against the Diamondbacks 6-2 tonight in Arizona. Here are my takeaways from the win…
The Dark Knight rises back to form.
It’s been a bit of a struggle for Matt Harvey lately as he’s allowed 11 earned runs in his last two starts and hasn’t been credited with a win in five starts. Things changed, however, in Arizona on Thursday night.
Returning to the ballpark where it all began for Harvey–he made his major league debut in Arizona in 2012–it was a return to form. While he did allow a pair of solo home runs–the 9th and 10th home runs allowed by Harvey this year–Matt was pretty damn good against the Diamondbacks. In seven innings, Harvey allowed six hits, two earned runs and a walk while striking out nine.
He struggled with his stuff early, but Harvey really seemed to hit his stride as this game went on. It was good to see Harvey pitch this way with the team coming off of a series loss in San Diego.
For Matt, it was his first win since May 1st.
John Mayberry Jr. rose, as well.
How about this? After entering the game with just seven hits all season, John Mayberry Jr. broke out in a big way tonight going 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI.
Filling in for Curtis Granderson who sat against the lefty, this was huge for the Mets and Mayberry himself, who’s provided almost nothing in the first two months of the season. Mayberry was driving the ball with authority to left field all night long and, as Ron Darling noted on the broadcast, his swing just looked better. Though I have to say, if you have a night like that, I don’t care what your swing looks like.
Good for Mayberry, he needed this.
Uh oh, Daniel Murphy.
There was some bad news tonight, however, as Daniel Murphy left tonight’s game with tightness in his left calf. It has yet to be seen if Murphy will have to head to the disabled list, but this has the potential to be a huge blow for the Mets.
This team is already missing David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud, and, despite scoring six runs tonight, isn’t exactly scoring runs in droves lately. Murphy has been one of the Mets hottest hitters over the last month or so, and this team needs him to be in the lineup every day now more than ever.
It should be noted that Danny Muno was removed from his game in Triple-A tonight, although it was a double-switch in the 9th inning.
Other notes from Thursday:
Kevin Plawecki‘s two-run double in the 6th kicked off the Mets scoring.
Ruben Tejada went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI batting lead off tonight and has raised his batting average to .311 for the year.
Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer combined to go 2-for-10 with five strikeouts.
Curtis Granderson delivered off the bench with a pinch-hit RBI single in the 7th.
Jeurys Familia converted his 3rd five-out save of the season.
With their win and the Nationals loss tonight, the Mets moved into sole possession of first place in the NL East.
Just Mets 