Sean Manaea turned in his second straight dominating performance and Carlos Mendoza’s shuffled lineup came thru, leading the Mets to a 6-0 win over the Cardinals Monday afternoon in St. Louis, in the makeup of an earlier rained out game. With the win, the Mets take the season series from the Cardinals, 4-2.
Manaea, coming off a 7-inning, 11-K performance versus the Twins last time out, was nearly as dominant this time out. He gave up a few more hits – scattering six – but once again twirled seven shutout frames, this time with 10 Ks. Manaea did not walk a batter and with the outing he lowered his ERA to 3.30 for the season.
On the flight over to St. Louis, Mendoza told Pete Alonso he’d be dropping him in the order. The 2-3-4 hitters all dropped down a spot in the lineup, with Tyrone Taylor inserted into the two-hole against a righty pitcher. Taylor has reverse splits this year, hitting better against RHP and he came thru with the big hit in the game, a three-run double that gave the Mets a 5-0 lead.
Alonso went 1-3 with a walk and seemed to have better at-bats today, getting ahead in the count and laying off some low and outside pitches that he normally flails at to strike out.
The lower third of the order – Jeff McNeil, Francisco Alvarez and Harrison Bader – each had two hits, with McNeil hitting a homer and Bader smacking two doubles. McNeil has now hit safely in 15 of his last 18 starts and has a .348 AVG with a .697 SLG in that span. He should be batting higher in the order, perhaps splitting Alonso and J.D. Martinez in the order to give a lefty bat.
The Mets continue their road trip with a 3-game series in Colorado against the 41-72 Rockies. Hopefully they do better in Coors Field than they did against the Angels.
Kudos to the Mets for grabbing a win in this squeezed in game. Dropping the game today would have put immense pressure on the team traveling again without an off day. Special kudos to Manaea who came up very big in an ace-like manner. I’ve been skeptical but he is winning me over with his performances.
Gut Reaction: Manaea was masterful. Since July 2nd he has pitched four, seven inning games. Taylor was struggling in August but Mendoza batted him second in the order and he got the game changing hit. Statistically, it didn’t make any sense. It must be Mendoza Magic.
Stanek had a good outing and Diaz needed the work even though they were winning 6-0. Let’s rock the Rockies and win the next series.
A nice win against a team that is right behind us in the wild card chase. 1.5 behind the Braves and 7.5 behind the Phillies. On August 1, 1969, the Mets were 6.5 games behind the Cubs and had a 57-45 record. They went 43-17 the rest of the way to get 100 wins and the rest was history. We don’t have a Seaver, nor a Koosman, but our overall pitching has improved and the current team can score much easier than the ‘69 club. Bottom line is getting into the playoffs and then hoping you can get a Manaea type performance, and the best a Severino and Quintana show up.
Manaea is on a great roll and has been the ace the Mets have lacked, numbers wise. This weekend in Seattle should be a great test for him. Having spent the last two winters in Seattle at Driveline should make him extra pumped. Hopefully, he won’t be overthrowing, LOL!