The Mets defeated the Blue Jays by the score of 4-3 in 11 innings at Citi Field on Monday night, ending Toronto’s 11-game winning streak. Here are my takeaways from Monday’s win…
A gritty win against a scorching hot team.
This is a tall task for the Mets this week. Their pitching has only been fair over the last month, and they’re facing an extremely tough and hot hitting opponent in the Blue Jays this week. But Syndergaard was able to power his way through six innings and shut the door on one of the best offenses in the league, and got off to a very good start in this home-and-home four-game series. And, they did it while sitting Travis d’Arnaud and Curtis Granderson, and being very short in the bullpen at that.
It wasn’t easy tonight Jeurys Familia blew a save – and nearly the game – in the ninth inning, but the Mets didn’t hang their heads and they found a way to win in extras. All is well that ends well, and it was a fun way to win a ballgame with two runs in the 11th to come from the depths of a tough loss.
By the way, Wilmer Flores seems to have a knack for coming up with these late, clutch hits to win games. It’s pretty amazing considering it seems like everyone is waiting for him to fall on his face.
A key moment.
The key moment came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Kevin Plawecki grounded one deep in the hole at shortstop, and Jose Reyes made a high throw to first. But Plawecki might have been out if he didn’t dive and slide into first to avoid the tag. Instead he reached on the error and came around to score on Juan Lagares‘ RBI double. The Mets ended up plating two in the frame thanks to a Ruben Tejada double which plated Lagares.
Noah Syndergaard battled, missed bats, should have a win for the effort.
In his last start, Syndergaard was throwing very hard but he was struggling to miss the Giants bats. But after a rocky start in the first (in which he only allowed a run), he was great for the remaining five innings. He struck out 11 on the night and while he struggled with his efficiency a bit, he only allowed a walk to Bautista in the third, and that was that against him.
He was really rather dominant after the first inning, which was nice to see considering he got off to an uneven start in the first. He deserved a win, and I am sure it would have been a sweet one for him considering it would’ve come against the team that traded him to New York 2 1/2 years ago. But, it wasn’t meant to be.
Other notes from Monday:
With his RBI double, Lagares now has a six-game hitting streak.
Syndergaard’s 11 strikeouts are a new career-high and he is 19th pitcher in baseball history to have at least two double digit strikeout games in his first seven career starts.
The Mets are now 3-1 in extra inning games in 2015.
Tonight marked the Mets 17th come-from-behind win and their fourth walk-off win of the season.
Tonight was Flores’ third career walk-off RBI.
To see Flores’ walk-off hit, watch this:
Just Mets 