Things became too close for comfort at one point, but the New York Mets and Noah Syndergaard held on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4.
A lot of the excitement in this series was based around the press conference before the game, as it marked the return of former Met Matt Harvey to Citi Field. The game itself provided enough entertainment in its own right. It started with an ace on the mound for the Mets, Syndergaard.
For most of his start, Syndergaard had control of his pitches. He recorded six strikeouts and a walk, although a rough seventh inning ended up making him accountable for four runs. This caused Syndergaard frustration, and he was seen tossing his mitt in the dugout in disgust. Luckily for him, the Mets were able to muster up plenty of run support.
It started in the first inning for the Mets, who took advantage of the way that Reds starter Homer Baily has struggled at Citi Field. Three Mets recorded three hits tonight, including birthday boy Wilmer Flores, who had two RBIs to go with his two hits. The other Mets to record three hits were Austin Jackson and Jeff McNeil. One of McNeil’s three hits was a mammoth home run to the Coca Cola Corner. His power is starting to come through, and my Gut Reaction is that tonight showed why he might be the best hitter on the Mets during the second half of the season. Also homering for the Mets tonight was Kevin Plawecki, who hit a solo home run in the fourth inning.
The bullpen tonight featured a pair of guys that needed to prove their worth to the team and start to audition for next season for a roll in the bullpen. The first guy was Bobby Wahl, who was making his third appearance for the team. He allowed one bases loaded walk, but also recorded a strikeout, so it was a mixed effort from Wahl. The other guy tonight was someone who urgently has needed to get on the right track for some time. Jerry Blevins was put on the spot for the save, and he pulled through, getting Joey Votto to ground out to end the game.
After taking the first game of the series, the Mets will host the Reds again tomorrow night at 7:10 pm, as Jason Vargas will take on Sal Romano at Citi Field.
Jim Duquette’s scouting report from a Mets exec comping McNeil to TJ Rivera is idiotic. TJ Rivera type hitter just ignore the 19 homers and the bombs he’s hit here but the internal scouting isn’t bad st all, no sir. McNeil has very real power and his bat to ball skills is very impressive. I’d like to see him stop trying to beat the shift with the bunts but otherwise he’s been perfect. He looks stiff trying to turn the double play but otherwise looks fine at second base defensively.
Very nice to see 16 hits, although I’d prefer to see more than 2 XBH in there.
Happy birthday to my buddy. Hopefully someone gave him a ground ball machine for his birthday and a netted built closet to throw into?
He also needs to watch video on how to get home from 3B on a ground ball. Another massively embarassing showing being thrown out by 10 feet. It was classic Flores living in Alice-in-Wonderland, and the second time in as many days.
Two days ago, Callaway said he needs to learn to run on contact…and again failed to do that, thought he was outsmarting Joey Votto of all people, then broke after Votto had the ball in his hands. So much for “learning.”
Although the cheapo Mets wont do it, Flores should be non-tendered.
Every player has warts, and when you watch them everyday they will become an issue. Problem with Flores is, he just has more warts than a normal player.
I saw the Votto play this morning, he did think he was slick. What’s so hard about running when the ball is hit once you see it hitting the ground? Did you see where Fangraphs writes that he’s playing out of position? They rate his as a second baseman.
The only thing is that Flores *is* a wart.