Coming into Friday’s game, the Mets had a starting pitcher go at least six innings 12 times and were 12-0 in those games. Max Scherzer allowed just one run in seven innings and the Mets upped their record to 13-0 with a 5-2 win against the Rockies in Denver.
It was the longest outing of the year for Scherzer and he set a season-high with eight strikeouts. His fastball was consistently in the 93-94 range and he had good movement with his other pitches. It’s the second straight good game for Scherzer, who went six shutout innings in his previous outing. Somewhat incredibly, it was the first career win for Scherzer in his seventh start at Coors Field.
Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor paced the offense for the Mets. Nimmo reached base safely all five times, as he had two triples and three walks. Lindor had four RBIs, two of which came on a first inning homer. Brett Baty drove in the other run, and he joined Nimmo and Lindor with a two-hit game.
It was another poor night for the struggling hitters. Starling Marte, Daniel Vogelbach and Tommy Pham batted 6-7-8 in the order and they combined to go 0-12. Jeff McNeil put up an 0-5 and Pete Alonso went 0-4. Alonso came up with the bases loaded and another time with two runners on and did not claim an RBI in the game.
It’s past time for Francisco Alvarez to move up in the order.
Rare first inning runs were nice to see and as Scherzer put it, the lead made it easier for him to attack hitters. Seems we scored a lot earlier in games last year that does set a different tone for the competition having to come from behind. Alvarez looks better with each game and it sure looks like Baty can field his position. Alvarez should move to 6th in the order. Big defensive play by Lindor and even though his hitting is sub par from last year, he’s managed to contribute 38 RBI. Hoping Vientos gets to DH and excited to see Verlander follow up his last start.
Kudos to the senior starters, Cookie and Max. The team looks quite different when the starters carry their load. Kudos to Nimmo as well, impressing his family/friends. As others have pointed out, it is about time for Mr. ALvarez to move up a bit in the batting order.
Alvarez 6th, Escobar 7th, Vientos 8th, Marte/Canha 9th
After being untouchable in his first month and a half, Robertson has now allowed 3 ER in his last 5 appearances, including 2 HRs. Hopefully this is just a hiccup and not sustained.
Regardless of how good they are, relievers tend to give up runs in bunches.
Typically, they bunch runs allowed in spans of 6-12 games. Even Edwin Diaz, he of the 1.31 ERA in 2022, had a 6-game span last year with a 6.35 ERA.
The best ones have smaller spans and limit them to one rough patch per year.