The Mets scratched out a 2-1 win over the Reds at Citi Field on Friday night. Here are my takeaways from the win…
Whatever works.
The Mets had two hits on Friday, and that was that. Fortunately, one was a home run and the other was a triple, and it was just enough to squeak out a win.
In reality, they had no offense once again on Friday, but that’s normal at this point so it’s not even worth trying to find any amazement out of it anymore. They got a leadoff home run in the first and a run via a two out walk in the fifth, and that was that.
Fortunately, two runs were enough for the Mets to win for the second time in as many days and make them a winning ball club again, thanks mostly to the pitching of Noah Syndergaard, who was outstanding.
It wasn’t even that the Mets hitting was bad on Friday. It was just mostly non-existent, but whatever works at this point.
A happy, and really good #ThorsDay.
If the Mets aren’t going to score, literally at all, they’re going to be riding their young, hard-throwing pitching into the ground, for better or for worse. So, the Mets are going to need outings like they got from Jacob deGrom yesterday, and Syndergaard today if they’re going to have any shot down the stretch.
Syndergaard didn’t strike out a lot of batters, but he had excellent command of the lower part of the strike zone while changing the eye level of the hitters routinely with a good, rising fastball up and out of the zone. The Reds – who have some pretty good power – hit some balls in the air against Syndergaard but most everything was routine and not well hit.
Eventually, Syndergaard is going to miss more bats, especially as he continues to learn how to pitch at this level and learns the swings of the opposition more and more. He’ll also learn to eventually throw to locations in which the opposition takes more defensive and awkward swings at pitches out of the zone when ahead in the count. He was able to do that against Jay Bruce in the sixth inning with a fastball that rose out of the strike zone when Bruce took a weird, half swing and struck out.
He showed a lot of poise to get around a muffed double play from Dilson Herrera in the eighth inning, coming in on Brandon Phillips with two outs and the tying run at third. He pushed him back on the first pitch but stayed aggressive inside to induce a weak popup and get out of a jam. An A+ on that big league test, and a capper to his best outing of the year.
A preview of what Dilson Herrera will eventually provide this club.
He’s raw, he makes rookie and immature mistakes on the infield, but Dilson Herrera showed exactly why the Mets are pinning their hopes on the future of this kid tonight. He made an outstanding defensive play behind the bag at second base on a diving play to his right to save a run (watch), and he tripled and scored in the fifth, showing off his speed and electricity while running around the bases.
It’s going to happen for him, eventually. It’s just a little too early for Herrera. He’s raw, but so talented and the Mets are going to be thankful they have him very soon.
Other notes from Friday:
The Mets have scored 13 runs and have 46 hits in their last nine games.
Syndergaard’s eight inning outing is a career-high.
Lucas Duda is now 14-for-his-last-82 at the plate with 25 strikeouts over his last 23 games.
Juan Lagares went 0-for-3 on Friday, and is 1-for-22 over his last 7 games.
With his leadoff home run, Granderson now has a six-game hitting streak with four home runs during that span.
Familia recorded his 21st save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Mets recorded two or fewer hits in a win for the first time since they beat the Phillies 1-0 with two hits on May 6, 2009 at Citi Field.
Just Mets 