Mets pitchers allowed six hits and five walks, plus they hit three batters. But with the Nats going 1-12 with RISP – and that hit not driving in a run – the Mets picked up their first shutout of the year with a 7-0 whitewashing of Washington Thursday afternoon. The win gave the Mets a sweep of the Nationals and upped their record to 23-10 in their last 33 games.
Brandon Nimmo didn’t hit a homer today but he got the Mets on the board in the fifth inning with a three-run double. He now has 27 RBIs in his last 21 games. And he’s scored 22 runs in that stretch, too.
J.D. Martinez (3) and Pete Alonso (2) also had multi-hit games, as the Mets smacked 9 H to go with their 7 R.
Carlos Mendoza let David Peterson throw 102 pitches – the horror! the horror! – and complete six innings, after giving him early hooks in each of his last two starts. Peterson got the win to raise his record to 4-0 and he lowered his ERA to 3.09 for the season.
The Mets needed four relievers to finish things up. Phil Maton looked good. Adam Ottavino loaded the bases in the ninth inning but escaped thanks to three strikeouts.
Now it’s time to see if the Mets can clean up on other teams besides the Nats. They’re now 8-2 this year against Washington but they won’t play their NL East rivals again until September. Next up is the Rockies, one of the worst teams in the NL this year but one who has been playing better lately.
We have to talk about Ottavino. It wasnt simply loading bases. His control is all over. Wild pitches, hit batter. We were very lucky they played it conservative on the wild pitches. Ottavino has real issues. I hope he can find himself.
I think we all hope that Maton continues his strong pitching so we can def bump a marginal reliever down or out. Well pitched and played game and a sweep was the best. Now let’s run the table on the Rockies and hit the break 5 over. Four and a half behind the Braves. Catching them would be sweet.
Otto was adventurous but the Mets got it done in the game and the series. Looking forward, it will be disappointing to drop even one game to Colorado (yes, it is MLB, any given day…) and dropping two would be a major buzz kill. Piling up wins vs Nats and Rockies provides some latitudes for mini losing streaks that will inevitably come in a long season. Also, Nimmo is the man.
Gut Reaction: Peterson threw six shutout innings and leading the staff in ERA but he is 27th MLB* but 111th in FIP and 119th* in WHIP so he had some luck this year.
Regardless, he did have a shutout and did threw 103 pitches, which is a good thing. In the 8th, Nunez recused Young and avoided the looming disaster.
* 40 innings or more pitched