The Mets defeated the Diamondbacks by the score of 6-3 today in Phoenix. Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s win…
More great pitching from deGrom.
He was hurt by some poor defense in the first and a little bit of bad luck in the sixth inning, but he really was stellar for seven innings today for his well deserved seventh win of the year. It was vintage Jake – he pounded the strike zone down with his electric fastball and had great command of his slider once again on the corners. At one point he had struck out five consecutive batters and didn’t allow a hit from the second through fifth innings.
He did walk three batters but one came to Paul Goldschmidt in what was a clear pitch around in the third inning. But he didn’t allow hardly any significant contact the entire day for the most part. Another job well done by the sophomore pitcher.
Why, hello Mr. Granderson…
The Mets absolutely have to find a way to get Curtis Granderson going. Hopefully today was a step in that direction. He smoked two home runs on two change-ups from Josh Collmenter – one of which led off the game – something the Mets badly needed from their high-priced veteran outfielder.
It’s safe to say the Mets are not going to get the hitter who was so prolific playing across town, and that’s fine. But they need more than the .361 slugging percentage Granderson brought into Sunday’s game, as well as a little more movement on the bases when he does get on. Perhaps today was the beginning of such a renaissance.
Eric Campbell, taketh, then he giveth.
Campbell hit a huge two-run home run in the second inning, moments after committing an error which led to two runs.
It has not been a good year for Campbell, to say the least. But, after enduring an 0-for-28 outage, his bat seemingly has started to heat up in the desert this weekend. He hit a few balls hard on Thursday and rolled some snake eyes, but he has a three-game hitting streak going now and two consecutive multi-hit games. He also stole two bases to manufacture an insurance run in the ninth inning today, which was nice to see.
He is who he is. He’s not a good defensive player, and he’s not really an everyday player in a situation where he’s being asked to play everyday. But it was nice to see him step up today and make up for a goof the inning prior.
A happy flight home.
They’ve been beaten down further after losing Daniel Murphy this weekend. Their offense is broken, there is all sorts of weirdness going on in the rotation. It was mostly an ugly and awkward road trip, so the Mets just had to win today. And, they didn’t do much wrong short of Campbell’s error in the first inning on Sunday to earn a slog of a series split against Arizona.
They had their best pitcher and their co-ace on the mound and he was awesome. At least for a day, they hit enough to support the pitcher’s effort, and it allows for them to have a nice night on the plane tonight and enjoy the off-day tomorrow as they head home to face a tough opponent in the Giants.
Other notes from Sunday:
Since June 21, 2014, deGrom has a 2.13 ERA in 177 1/3 innings. That is the best in baseball during that span (Clayton Kershaw is second with a 2.14 ERA). His ERA is down to 2.44 for the year.
The four home runs hit by the Mets match a season-high. They did it one other time on May 27 against the Phillies.
Ruben Tejada took an 0-for-4 at the plate on Sunday – his nine-game hitting streak is over.
With his fourth inning single, Michael Cuddyer extended his hitting streak to 11 games – he’s 17-for-48 during his hitting streak.
The Mets stole four bases in the ninth inning on Sunday, representing 17 percent of their entire season’s total.
Just Mets 