Six In A Row For Surging Mets

This was the typical Jacob deGrom start in that he was great, and he got little to no help from his offense.

deGrom would only struggle in the third. In that inning, he loaded the bases with one out. That was partially the result of his struggling with his command walking two batters. Unlike last night in his at-bat against Seth Lugo, Jose Abreu took advantage hitting a sacrifice fly giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead.

Things got dicey with deGrom then walking AJ Reed on four pitches to again load the bases. He’d finally settle in striking out Eloy Jimenez to end the inning.

From there, deGrom would retire nine straight and 12 of the last 14 he faced. In total, he pitched seven innings allowing in run on five hits while walking two and striking out 11. Being this is deGrom, he would get the no decision for this typically great deGrom effort.

One of the reasons why was Lucas Giolito was arguably better on the night. The Mets wouldn’t get a runner into scoring position against him until Todd Frazier hit a leadoff double in the fifth. Giolito responded by getting the next three in a row to strand Frazier there.

Giolito did not have the same luck on the sixth after issuing a leadoff walk to Michael Conforto. After striking out Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano singled putting runners at the corners. Wilson Ramos hit a slow chopper to third, and Conforto broke home on the contact play. Conforto was safe on a nifty slide tying the game at 1-1.

J.D. Davis had a chance to give the Mets a lead, but because this isn’t Citi Field, he hit into an inning ending double play.

Giolito settled back in, and he shut down the Mets allowing just the one run on three hits with three walks and nine strikeouts over 7.0 innings.

This became a battle of the bullpens, and Justin Wilson somehow got through the eighth unscathed. With runners at first and second and two outs, Jon Jay hit the ball up the middle. On the play, it was very difficult to see if Cano was going to get to it. It didn’t matter as the ball hit second base umpire Stew Scheurwater. That meant instead of a potential go-ahead RBI, it was an infield single and a dead ball.

As Gary Cohen was contemplating if you should bring in the warming Jeurys Familia, Ron Darling was rather forceful in saying Mickey Callaway should stick with Wilson. Callaway stuck with Wilson, and he got out of the jam getting Tim Anderson to ground out.

Against White Sox closer Alex Colome, Ramos would lead off with a grounder twice booted by Anderson. After Davis singled up the middle, Aaron Altherr pinch ran for Ramos. It proved to be the right decision as he scored easily on a Todd Frazier RBI single. It’s very likely Ramos was not sent or would be thrown out if he remained in the game.

The Mets had a chance to add-on with the bases loaded, and for a moment it looked like they’d squander the chance when Jeff McNeil struck out. It was not his night going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. While it wasn’t his night, it was Conforto’s hitting a two out two run single expanding the Mets lead to 4-1.

That left breathing room for Edwin Diaz, who was not traded, to get the save. He looked much different tonight than he has most of the season striking out the first two he faced. After a Leury Garcia homer, things felt much more ominous, but Diaz settled in to record his 24th save of the season in the Mets 4-2 win.

Mets have now won six in a row, and with the Nationals losing today, they’re closer to at least one of the teams ahead of them. It’s becoming more and more real.

Game Notes: Zack Wheeler was not traded at the deadline, and he is scheduled to pitch tomorrow with Marcus Stroman slated to make his Mets debut Saturday.

4 Replies to “Six In A Row For Surging Mets”

  1. David Klein says:

    Jake is the king of in game adjustments as his slider wasn’t as sharp as it usually is so after a sluggish third inning he dominated with his changeup from the third innings on. And was at two walks and two strikeouts after three innings and adjusted by throwing his changeup more and more and straight dominated from the fourth inning on, nobody adjusts better than Jake. Jake struck out something like eight of eleven at some point during the game.

    Giolito is having his breakout season and really was very good today as he has a razor blade slider. Wilson has been terrific since returning from the injured list and has been so reliable it’s allowed Mickey to stay away from a Familia in high leverage spots lately.

    Conforto is raging hot and got yet another huge hit and drew two more walks he and Rosario have been the teams best hitters post all star break easily.

    Had no issue going to Diaz in the ninth and besides for the homer looked much better than on Tuesday.

    1. Gothamist says:

      That was a great matchup and a good baseball game.

      deGrom is a delight to watch. We all should emulate his focus, preparedness, conditioning and drive to succeed in everything we aspire to do.

      What is NOT a pleasure for me is watching JEFF MCNEIL.
      You enjoy watching him? God bless you…

      Conforto is extremely prepared at the plate and raking those pitches that are ‘available’.

      Diaz looks like a sensitive guy, just overwhelmed with the limelight.
      I liked the way he interacted with Regan, Nido and the position players after the game.

      If Wilson did not get injured, would we been trashing Brody, Fred and the Jeff show?

      I am curious about Rosario’s ceiling and I think it may takes years to find out.

      Conforto’s arm is pathetic.

      JD Davis might be an excellent trade?
      That single off Jake I saw as avoidable.

      Sorry to hear about Dom Smith.

      Why not train two starters to be pinch runners and save a bench player.

      Do we really need to use up challenges early in the games?

      What happened to Jeff McNeil?

    2. metsdaddy says:

      Well said.

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