The Mets offense has been bad of late, and with their recent usage, the Mets bullpen was without Edwin Diaz and Seth Lugo heading into the game. This is the exact type of situation where a team needs their starting pitching to just completely take over a game.  That is exactly what Noah Syndergaard did today.

Syndergaard pitched a complete game shut-out against the Reds. In the game, the Reds managed just four hits and one walk. There was really nothing they can do as evidenced by their 10 strikeouts. When you see the stuff Syndergaard had today, like in his strikeout of Joey Votto to end the eighth, you understand why:

Thor, Ridiculous 98mph (sword) and 99mph Two Seamers. ?? pic.twitter.com/lG7FAGVTVj

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 2, 2019

For as good as Syndergaard was on the mound, the Reds pitching staff were nearly up to the task. Reds starter Tyler Mahle allowed just one earned on four hits. One of those hits was a Syndergaard homer:

Absolutely #crushed. ??@Noahsyndergaard goes over the Great Wall of Flushing. #PitchersWhoRake pic.twitter.com/31ETkLKjal

— New York Mets (@Mets) May 2, 2019

Overall, Syndergaard would come one just five pitches short of the Maddux. While he didn’t get the Maddux, he would get the Koosman. The Koosman is hitting one out and shutting them out. It is called that because former Mets starter Jerry Koosman used to say it was a starter’s job to hit one out and shut them out. That’s exactly what Syndergaard did today.

It should be noted that while that is what Koosman used to say, Syndergaard has become the first pitcher in Mets history to win a game 1-0 where the pitcher homered and shut out the opponent. In retrospect, maybe we should now call this the Syndergaard.

Game Notes: With his second homer of the season, Syndergaard now has six homers. That has him tied for second place with Tom Seaver and one short of Dwight Gooden on the Mets pitchers home run list.